Timing is Everything
by mydoctortennant
Summary: MODERN AU; They were never meant to meet, so they thought; but destiny has other plans. Arthur/Gwen and Merlin/Morgana
1. Chapter 1

In a stadium full of a few thousand spectators there are horses circling ready to start the cross country course at Badminton in the south west of England. The riders have been training with their horses for this for the last few months but they all know who the top-runner to win is. He has won the last two years and it's not unlikely that he'll win again.

His horse is strong and forward going and once he starts going the stallion doesn't stop until he reaches the stadium again to cross the finishing line.

The horse, racing name Camelot King, loves it when they reach the water, cantering through, splashing his rider, but they keep going powering on.

But the pair of them were ready to go, circling around the arena. He gets the nod and his name is announced; "Arthur Pendragon riding Camelot King, horse number thirty," and they were off, he kicked on his horse and the world around him was gone. When he was riding the world around him disappeared. He was no longer the country's finest horse rider; he was a man on a horse.

Arthur Pendragon had been riding horses since he was six years old. He came from a privileged background; he'd lived in a house with four acres and six stables. Once he was tall enough – and had the confidence to ride an animal twice his height – he'd taken to the stables with his nanny, Sophia, and the hired stable hand that looked after the horses from day to day.

It hadn't taken him long to end up spending day after day down with the horses. He helped Millicent exercise them, each day becoming a stronger rider.

It hadn't been something his father had supported straight away; but once he'd won his first few competitions – taken there by Millicent and Sophia – he had accepted that his son could make a name for himself with it and it made him happier than he had ever seen his son in his early childhood. Had he refused to let him carry it on he wouldn't have heard the end of it from Gaius or Sophia.

At present he was thundering around the cross country course, mind focused on the prize at hand. He didn't like to lose and today wasn't going to be any different.

x

In the midst of Bath city there is a school. Working there is a woman, twenty-four years old and fresh out of university. She stands in the middle of a circle of eleven and twelve year olds wearing a pair of scruffy jeans and a flowing arty top. Her hair was a mad array of dark curls that complemented her darker complexion. She was the typical image of an erratic drama teacher and that was exactly what she was.

All the kids there like her.

New teachers usually feel the brunt of it. The older kids will play them against the other department teachers and wing it so they can get out ten minutes early, but none of them tried it with her. The boys were behaved if a little crude sometimes and the girls all loved the way she presented herself.

She quickly became their role model.

When the posters went up about the summer play she got more responses than any other drama teacher had in the last decade. And it wasn't like she had chosen a play that was that well known to the children. None of them had seen - a lot hadn't heard of it either – Blood Brothers. She'd had to do the auditions over two lunchtimes. The Head of the Department, Mr Peter Ellis, had told her she'd be done in ten minutes and she'd have to cast the best of the worst in the lead roles.

How wrong he had been.

"Well, Miss Leodegrance, you have proven me wrong," and with a beam on her face she admitted that she had. She had found it near impossible to cast the children. She'd ignored Ellis' suggestions because one of the kids had come to her saying that she knew exactly who would get the main parts because of the favouritism that had been shown after the last few years and she had promised o ignore his every suggestion.

Right she was to do so too.

Every suggestion Ellis made had been exactly who the girl had told her about. Yet from the auditions she had seen they weren't the best. Not only was she going to be fair; she was going to be honest to.

Her weekend was going to be full of casting and recasting and scribbling out names and putting them back.

X

The last jump was in sight as Arthur guiding his horse over the penultimate gate and into the arena. Woops and cheers could be heard but he didn't have a clue what his time was like but he'd not picked up any penalties on the way around. It had been a dream run.

The final fence was ten metres away. Five. They were nearly on top of it and his horse jumped, he rode it through into the landing with precision. He allowed himself a smile and rubbing Camelot King beneath his mane, "Good boy. Good run. Good boy."

He reached the exit and dismounted his horse in one fellow swoop. Greeted almost immediately by his half-sister and competition companion, Morgana. She had the biggest grin on her face and kissed Camelot King on the nose before scratching him over the star between his ears; "Good boy, CK."

"How did we go?"

"You're in first place. Impressive run brother."

"We've still got the Jumping Test tomorrow," he reasoned as the pair of them gave CK to the handler and headed into the competitor changing rooms; "It can still go down hill."

"You got top in Dressage and it's going to take something special to beat that."

"It's not impossible."

"Be optimistic, Arthur, come on. Now shower. Dad's waiting for you."

"Oh fantastic."

The pair of them took off their separate ways; and for the first time that competing weekend Arthur let himself smile. He could win this again.

This was his biggest competition each year. It was his most local championship. He enjoyed it more than any other knowing he had the support of 'his people'. He'd been on the local news several times over the last year and he could see himself being on it within the next week if he won again.

x

Sunday evening came around quickly for Gwen. She'd agreed to meet Merlin for their regular Sunday night drink and pub quiz. They were determined to win and they hoped that maybe this was their week. It never had been so far.

Merlin was her best friend and had been through university. He'd studied at Bath University having moved there from Cornwall whilst she'd been there as her local university and the easiest place for her to study at the same time as keeping her part-time job to fund herself through. All she wanted was to get through university so she could move onto a better job and now she was working in one of the nicest schools in the city.

They still met at least once a week; often for the quiz.

"You know," Gwen started as she pushed through the door of the near empty pub, "We should invest in some more team mates. Then we'd have a bigger knowledge base."

"Yeah, but then we'd get less prize money," Gwen laughed and punched him gently on the arm. A grin split across his face, "Not all of us have our dream jobs yet."

"If we ever win, Merlin, I'll give you all the money, deal?"

"I'd feel bad then," they reached the bar then and Merlin pulled out his wallet, "What you having?"

"Orange Juice and Lemonade please."

"Sure?"

"Yeah; car is around the corner so I can't drink."

"Not just one?"

"Better not."

"Oookay," he ordered from the man behind bar and was quickly given their glasses. He grabbed an answer sheet from the end of the bar and readied himself for the thirty questions they were going to be asked, "Phones at the ready?"

"Cheat."

"Oh yes," he grinned again and slurped from his drink, "Tonight we shall win."

X

The rain had started to come down at precisely 8:21pm that night. It covered the roads causing those roadside waterfalls down the hills. Bath, a particularly hilly place, could be dangerous in the wrong sort of weather.

Arthur, Morgana and their small group of friends had made their way out. It had been a hectic morning and afternoon for the siblings but they'd manage to cut loose from the journalist wanting a word with him about his win that afternoon and they'd escaped to their local pub to celebrate in their own ways.

Arthur had his pint in his hand as Gwaine clapped his hand down on his shoulder; "Good job mate," he flicked his head around with his longer hair flicking around into his fingers. He blew it out of his eyes and took a long swig from his pint-glass-with-a-handle.

"Nice to know somebody is celebrating," Arthur laughed noting his friend was on his third pint. They'd only been there for half an hour, if that.

"I'm happy for you," the Irish man drawled and finished the rest of his pint, "Who wants another drink."

He disappeared back towards the bar on his new quest to find another pint of Guinness and probably a new female friend for the evening; it wouldn't surprise anyone if he came back with her already with her name and number. He would never leave with her and he would never call her nor would he remember her name the next morning, but no harm would come of it.

"Maybe one of us should look after him," Morgana said looking towards the bar towards their friend.

"He'll be fine. He usually is."

"Right," she yawned and slowly stretched out her arms behind her head, "Urgh, do you want to go soon?"

"Yeah; I could do with my bed," he finished the rest of his pint - one to Gwaine's three – Lance, a man with short black hair and designer stubble over his cheeks, was sat with them with a bowl of chips smothered in tomato ketchup and he waved a offhanded farewell at them as they rose from the table.

"See you later," he said with three chips in his mouth and his hand held up in front of it so he didn't spit all over them, "Congrats again mate."

"Cheers. Bye mate," he pulled his car keys out of his pocket and headed towards the exit with Morgana hot on his tail, "I can't wait until my head hits that pillow."

"You should have said, we could have celebrated tomorrow," she squealed at the heavy rain hit her face. She pulled her jacket up over her head and ran the few steps across the pavement towards the sports car Arthur drove. He jogged passed her trying to avoid getting too wet but the rain was coming down in what felt like golf ball sized drops, and he was already soaked to the bone.

"Wouldn't matter then, would it? The world would be over it."

"The world is already over it. The people of the riding world might worship you for another three hours… that's all," Arthur let out a hearty laugh as he jogged in-between his car and the large white van he had parked behind to the driver's side. He didn't look as he emerged between the two vehicles.

Morgana stood, bouncing by the passenger door. He clicked the unlock button as late as he could to annoy her. She smirked at him sarcastically thanking him as she pulled open the door. She didn't see him step into the road.

She didn't see the car coming down the road clip his leg as he jogged out in front of it. She only heard his cry of pain as he crashed into the side of the car and slipped on the slight hill of the road in the weather. It was his side crashing into the bonnet that alerted her to the problem making her jump out of her skin; "Arthur!"

She was out of the car quicker than she had clambered into it and in the rain to check on her half-brother; "Arthur!" she called again.

"Fuck!" he shouted out, now leaning against the side of the car now he had landed. Morgana ran around the car as quickly as her heels would allow her to and ducked into a crouch beside him.

"Are you okay?"

"Fuck me-"

"Rather not."

"-my leg!" he went to bend it to look at it but cried out in pain.

"Shit Gwen!" another male voice came from the car that had skidded to a halt not far down the road from them, "You hit him!"

"He ran out in front of me! I didn't see him," she ran from the driver's side of her car, leaving her car door open to run up the road to Arthur's side, "Are you okay?"

"He's fine," Morgana answered for him only to have him start mouthing off.

"You've broken my fucking leg!"

"I'm so sorry. We should get you to the hospital. I'm so sorry! You ran out in front of me! I didn't mean to hit you. And at east you're not dead. You didn't hit your head did you? Oh god, what if you've got a concussion that sends you into a coma later on?"

"He's got a couple of scraps, otherwise he's fine," the raven haired beauty said over her blonde haired brother's complaints.

"We should get you in my car, the hospital isn't far!"

"Shit Gwen," Merlin said again, ever-do-helpfully, "That's the rider bloke," Gwen looked up at him through the rain, his usually fluffy hair slick o his forehead in the rain, she had no idea what he was on about, "I'm Merlin. Nice to meet you."

"No offence, but get the fuck away from me."

"Arthur, play nice," Morgana said helping him to his good foot, "This lovely lady is offering to help you. Take her up on it. You don't want blood in your car."

"This lovely lady ran me over!"

"You ran out in front of me!"

"I'll drive," Merlin smiled running back to Gwen's car and pulling open the back door, "We'll be there in minutes."

"I'll follow in your car," Morgana said plucking Arthur's keys from his hand before he could complain.

Arthur reluctantly allowed himself to be pushed into the back of Gwen's car. It was full of boxes of assorted materials and costumes that Gwen had collected ready to take into school the next morning, "Oh god, we need to stop the bleeding," Gwen said, her first aid training finally kicking in once she saw the injury she'd inflicted in the light of her car. She grabbed one of the costumes and held it tightly to his bleeding leg over his ripped trouser leg.

"What the _hell_ is all this stuff?" Arthur asked; mainly to stop himself from making a sarcastic comment about women drivers. Arthur moved so he was sitting in the middle of the backseat, leaning up against one of the boxes I the seat next to him, squishing in so Gwen could fit in next to him with the white costume pressed to his leg quickly turning red.

"Costumes. I'm a drama teacher."

"Great. I got run over by a drama teacher."

"Yes. What do you do?" she snapped. Being a teacher wasn't something she was ashamed of, nor was it something she thought anybody should be ashamed of.

"He's a rider!" Merlin said excitedly as he started to drive down the road, "Horses and shit," it then loomed on Gwen that she made have ended whatever career this stranger had had before now, "He wins a lot of stuff. Was at the Olympics in 2008!"

"Why do you know this?" She said, ignoring the subject and squinting at Merlin; why couldn't he have this useless knowledge for the pub quiz?

"I spent a lot of time watching the Olympics that summer. He got interviewed a lot. Britain's best chance at gold. Hey, were you at the horse trials today?" Merlin rambled off looking at Arthur in the rear view mirror.

"Yeah, all weekend," Arthur managed through gritted teeth. Gwen had just pressed down harder on his leg to try and stop the bleeding.

"Sorry."

He scared her into silence with a glare and carried on talking to Merlin, "Jumping trials today." Talking stopped him from thinking about the intense pain he could feel in his lower limb. The heat it was already creeping up through his thigh, soon he was sure that his whole leg would feel like it was going to fall off.

"How'd you do?"

"I won," he said almost bitterly. As if Gwen didn't feel guilty enough about hitting this man, knowing this was making her feel worse still. She bit down on her lip. She could apologise all day long, it wouldn't stop the guilt from coursing through her.

"I'm so sorry."

"Yeah, well, nothing you can do about it now, is there?"

Gwen felt a twinge of annoyance at him; it wasn't her fault he hadn't looked where he was going and had ran out in front of her car as she was doing less than the speed limit, caught his leg and ended up having him bleeding in the back of her. No; it wasn't her fault at all and she'd be damned if she was going to let him tell her otherwise.

"Are we nearly there, Merlin?" Gwen asked looking towards the front of the car. She saw the red light he was stopped at, "Road works? Seriously?"

"There are no cars coming."

"Oh for fuck's sake! Just go through then!"

"I can't, it's illegal."

"_Merlin!"_

"Alright, alright!" He made to move off only to emergency stop a second later.

"MERLIN!" Gwen said having slipped forwards, at this rate she wouldn't be making it to the hospital in one piece either. Her lungs would be bruised from the amount of times they were getting left behind as her ribcage came rocketing forward each time Merlin put his foot to the brake.

"CAR!" he shouted back.

"Then be careful!"

"You said go!" he said looking back over his shoulder at her.

"I didn't mean without looking first! And you said nothing was coming!"

Arthur phone rang in his pocket. He fidgeted to grab it out, "Hello?" he said through gritted teeth as he got jammed forwards once again as Merlin came to an abrupt stop at a light that changed as he came to it.

"You should have just ran it," Gwen complained having been thrown into the back of the drivers seat once again.

"It was _red_."

"Only when you got to it. General driving safety, if you have to emergency brake to stop at a light: don't."

"Yes, Morgana. I know, he's driving like a twat-"

"Hey!"

"We're getting there," Gwen said harshly, glaring at Arthur. They were helping him – after being his original hindrance but he should have still treated them with a bit more maturity.

"Here, she wants to speak to you," he held the deice out to Gwen who looked at it, bewildered.

"Me?" Arthur shrugged. Gwen took the phone from him and balanced it between her ear and her shoulder gripping the costume back to the bleeding, "Hello?"

"Don't let him give you a hard time."

"I'm not."

"Just hit him if he's rude."

"Right."

"I better go, no headset."

"Okay, bye," Gwen let the phone slip from her shoulder only to be chastised by Arthur who grabbed at it fro his lap where it had landed. She rolled her eyes; surely he had bigger things to be worrying about right now?

"We're here," Merlin declared as he wrenched on the hand brake.

'_Oh thank God,'_ Gwen thought to herself. Now she wouldn't have to deal with the attitude she was getting fro him. She didn't know now if it was because she hadn't recognised him – she still didn't know his name – or because she'd broken his leg. Potentially, quite badly.

They scrambled out of the car ready to help Arthur out and towards the door. Gwen looked at the looming hospital. She hadn't been there in a number of years and she hadn't had any intention of coming back. The doors taunted her. It was time to face facts and go across the threshold of fear and face her past.

Once Gwen and Merlin had helped Arthur into the reception of the A&E department of the hospital he had been taken off their hands by a nurse with a wheelchair who had reprimanded them about not calling out an ambulance. So much for not wasting council resources.

Morgana had appeared two minutes later looking simply divine despite being drenched from head to foot and it wasn't hard to notice that ever male member of staff – and Merlin – had been checking her out. In the hospital light she looked like a model with her long black hair braided and resting over one shoulder.

Instead of asking at the desk she approached Gwen and Merlin, "Sorry, got stuck behind a lorry after the roundabout," with an outstretched hand she introduced herself, "I'm Morgana," she offered taking Merlin's hand from his side when he didn't take hers straight away.

"Mer-Merlin," he managed with a faint smile on his face and pink-tinged ears.

Morgana turned her smile on Gwen, "Guinevere."

"Nice to meet you. Where's Arthur?"

So that was his name. Gwen, uncomfortable in her plastic seat, pointed towards the curtain that had been pulled around the horseman, "Over there. He's waiting for a doctor," they had been waiting with him but he'd been nothing but sarcastic and rude and Gwen really didn't want to spend more time with him than necessary. The sooner she could get away and forget it ever happened the better.

"Are you okay?" Morgana asked her with a sympathetic hand on her shoulder.

"Bit shaken but fine," it wasn't all the accident either.

"You'll make sure she gets home okay?" she asked Merlin.

"Yeah."

"Cheers. You don't have to wait around if you don't want to," Morgana said with a sympathetic look in her eyes. This Guinevere looked perfectly terrified. "It wasn't your fault. He might be pissed, but he won his big comp. I wouldn't worry."

"Can you tell him I'm sorry, again?" Gwen pleaded looking over to the curtain he was behind. She'd contemplated going over herself, but he had made it perfectly clear that she wasn't welcome to breathe near him let alone talk to him directly.

"Will do," Morgana offered her a sympathetic smile and gently squeezed her wrist, "Don't worry. He's a stubborn arse, but he'll get over it."

"I've potentially ruined his career…"

"It's not the end of the world. He'll be fine. I'll be honest I'm ore worried about you and your mental state than I am about his…"

"I'm so sorry," Gwen said again.

"You should have a cup of tea before you go, calm down a bit."

"I'd rather not stay here if I can help it," Gwen said shifting in her seat and looking towards the door, "I really don't like hospitals."

"Completely understandable," Morgana said, not even knowing why, "Be careful alright?"

"Yeah," Gwen stood and shook her head and started towards the door, assuming Merlin was following her.

"Merlin?" He turned back to Morgana, "Can I have your number? I'll let you know how he goes."

"Yeah, sure," he typed his number frantically into the phone and returned it to her promptly, "I'll speak to you later. I better go."

x

Merlin, ever the good friend, offered to drive the still shaky Gwen home. It was only a minute walk from her flat to his and the rain had died down a lot that he wouldn't resemble a drowned rat when he reached his home.

"I can't believe I ran over an Olympic gold medallist," Gwen said staring out of her car window and up at the night sky.

"He'll be fine," her best friend reasoned as he pulled up into her parking space outside of her flat building and turned the car off.

Gwen let out a long sigh, blowing out her cheeks and letting out the raspberry of a breath, "The whole country is going to want my blood if he can't compete again," she said melodramatically hitting her head repetitively against the passenger side window.

"Don't worry about it, Gwen," Merlin pulled his friend away from the window and forced her to look at him, "seriously. He's what, twenty-something. He's not likely to take ages to heal and it _really_ wasn't that bad. Stop panicking about it!"

"Easy for you to say!" she said with pleading eyes, "This is going to be in the papers tomorrow!"

"Nobody cares that much about horse riders, Gwen. I wouldn't worry," People did however care about those who could win titles for their country which Arthur Pendragon certain could, and did. Saying that, however, wouldn't help Gwen.

"Why didn't we just stay behind to finish the rest of the quiz?" Gwen questioned looking over at Merlin as if it was his fault, "I would never have hit him then!"

"Because after the first section of not knowing the answers: we gave it up as a bad job. We weren't going to win."

"And hitting a bloke with my car is winning, is it?" Merlin snorted a laugh; it was still pretty funny though his eyes. She was so worried about it and in god's honest truth it really wasn't that big a deal. Pendragon wasn't in a coma, nor did he have any bigger injuries than a broken leg apart from perhaps a bruised ego. No; he would be fine and back on his horse by the end of the summer. Gwen had nothing to worry about.

X

The next morning as Merlin passed the newsagent; he thought it a good idea just to pop in and see what headlines there were, just in case Gwen had been right and they'd decided to publicly humiliate her. He bought an armful of them and headed out; he had a couple of streets left before work and with more time than usual left he would get to check them out.

With a black coffee in one hand and his pile of papers in the other Merlin made his way into his small office off of the side of the lab he worked in. Later he'd be blowing things up in the name of maths and science but for now he was going to wake up and see what havoc the headlines were causing on the fine Monday morning.

His mobile phone vibrated in his bag, alerting him to a new message.

_Hey Merlin, Morgana here. Arthur's fine. _

_Leg is in a cast. Petitioned for pink. He _

_said no. Six weeks recovery tops. He's on_

_local news tonight. Might be best to stop _

_Gwen watching it. M._

Merlin chuckled to himself. He'd given Morgana his number on the way out so she could update him on the situation. Gwen had had her head somewhere else since the accident. He didn't want to be left unknowing of what happened to the Olympian. As much as he had told Gwen nobody cared about sportsmen such as Arthur Pendragon, if he wasn't able to compete again somebody might be out for blood.

_Hey Morgana, thanks for letting me _

_know. G was worried about the papers. _

_Nothing so far. Merl._

The young scientist loaded up his laptop, loading his internet browser and tapping impatiently at the Google search bar at the top of it until it would let him type in it.

_Arthur Pendragon_; he typed in at expert speed.

The results were instantaneous. It helpfully provided him with a link to the images of him winning several cups and a picture of him accepting his gold medal back in 2008, looking a little younger then he did now; and like a deer in headlamps at the ordeal.

Merlin clicked on the first website link to Wikipedia. There wasn't a whole lot on him; born October 29th 1984, making him twenty-five years old. It spoke about his childhood in Bath. He went to the school Gwen taught at by some bizarre coincidence and grew up around horses. The only thing it said about his personal life was that he was close with his half-sister Morgana. There was a whole section about his win in Beijing but other than that the search proved kind of unfruitful.

He hit the back button. He noticed a few links down that the search engine had highlighted 'latest news' and lo and behold; the headline read what Merlin had been searching the papers for that morning; _Badminton Winner Breaks Leg._

Merlin winced. He didn't know if clicking on the link and reading the article was a good idea. Maybe it wouldn't even mention Gwen and the accident at all. Against his better judgement; Merlin clicked the link.

_Spotted early this morning leaving Bath RUH on a pair of crutches and a cast on his left leg; it would appear that Olympic gold medallist Arthur Pendragon's luck might be about to take a turn for the worst. After his win at Badminton Horse Trials yesterday afternoon Pendragon had celebrated with half-sister Morgana Pendragon in their usual haunt, a source tells us._

_It is unclear what happened between his early departure from the pub and his leaving the hospital. Could this be the end of our hopeful's career before it's even truly begun?_

Well, at least they hadn't mentioned Gwen. That had to be something, right? It would come out soon enough, especially if he was going to be on Point West tonight. Merlin opened a new tab in his browser and opened his email, quickly creating a new one. He pasted the article link into it and added a smiley face to the end of it and sent it to Gwen.

Hopefully she wouldn't freak out too much about it.

A minute later and he got another text through;

_You're not funny. G x_

Merlin laughed to himself again and took a long swig from his coffee. All would be fine with the world. Maybe he'd asked Morgana out for a drink sometime. Maybe he'd Google her first just to check for any signs of a boyfriend…

X

At twenty-five years old Arthur Pendragon had never broken a bone before that faithful Sunday. Not even a finger. Given the amount of times he had fallen off a horse in the past he had never had so much as a bruise given to him from the animals. So now he had a broken leg because of some idiot girl driving a car he wasn't best pleased.

And now he had to do television interviews looking like a gimp with a pair of crutches and a cast that was so over-sized it was embarrassing. It wasn't even like it was a cool accident where he had come tumbling off a horse into the water at the horse trials. No. He'd been hit by a car by a _drama teacher_ of all people.

"Can I sign it?" Morgana had asked him sarcastically once they'd gotten in the front door of their shared house. Arthur glared at her, "I'll take that as a no."

"Take it as a 'Fuck off Morgana'."

"Somebody's touchy."

"My leg is killing me and you won't let me take any more of my pain meds," Arthur complained as he through his crutches down onto the sofa next to where he was planning on collapsing for the next few hours before he had to head to Bristol for the news cast in the evening.

"It's not midday yet," Morgana said, tempted to reiterate the doctor's instructions at him for the fifth time, "Get over it."

"But I'm in _pain_. What are you some kind of sadist?"

"Damn, foiled," Morgana smirked. She could have fun with this at his expense. She loved her dear half-brother more than she probably should have done being the elder sibling, but she wanted him to suffer a little too. It would do him the world of good not to get everything he wanted all of the time, "You still aren't having them."

"It hurts, Morgana, gimme the bloody painkillers!" he shouted as she started to walk away from him.

"No. Along with the rest of this I'm not having you depending on pain meds; you'll ride it through without. We need you clean, remember."

"It's not like they will stay in my system that long, and I can't compete for a good three months now anyway thanks to that idiot of a woman," he said through gritted teeth.

"Her name is Gwen. She's lovely."

"She ran me down with her car!"

Morgana beamed, "Remind me to send her a thank you card!"

"Why do I let you run my life, again?"

"Because I'm better at it than you are," Morgana left him then. Leaving him with his thoughts could do one of two things. Either it would make him realise that he owed Gwen an apology and he'd get off his proverbial high horse and be nice to her. Or he would stew on blaming her and only get worse. Morgana hoped for her new friendship state that he chose the former.

The horseman's assistant and sister pulled her mobile from her bag and started to type in a message on the touch screen;

_Arthur's a whiney bitch. Could do with  
a drink later. I'll fill you in. xxx_

Hitting send she waited for a reply. She didn't have to wait for long which made her happy. She's had enough of idiotic men for one day.

_Sure thing. Just tell me where. What's  
happened to Arthur now? Love you. x  
_

She opened a new message quickly and replied at high speed.

_I'll tell you later. Love you too xxx_

X

The children of Kingswood school had never seen their drama teacher in such a foul mood before. She had been spotted first thing pinning up a copy of the cast list to the drama notice board but she hadn't stopped to talk to any of the students who greeted her like she would usually. She looked any but her usual friendly and upbeat self. She looked guarding and moderately annoyed.

Ellis had taken to making her cups of coffee without saying anything and carrying on with what he was doing on his side of the Drama office.

"Miss Leodegrance?" one of the older students had spoken up in her first lesson of the afternoon, "Are you feeling okay?" Gwen had smiled at pleasantly as she could muster at the lad. He was only trying to be polite.

"I'm fine thank you, Thomas. I'd love for you to show me what you've got," the class had been working on monologues for a special performance for the parents and teachers on the evening of the Student Award Ceremony. As the parents entered they would dot the students of the Sixth Form class down the entry hall and as the audience entered they would spout off their monologues for the pleasure of the passing parents and faculty. It was something both Ellis and Gwen had been keen to do and the Head had finally given them the nod of approval after fighting for the event for the last few months at their weekly staff meetings.

The event was looming, as was the pending rehearsals for the school summer play; yet for the first time since starting her job, all Gwen could think about was the poor man whom she had hit with her car at twenty-six miles per hour the night before.

X

Gwen got home just after six that evening. When she'd walked in the door of her flat she had headed straight for the kettle, filling it and whacking it on. She grabbed the remote from the kitchen table and flicked on the television and over onto BBC One for the news. The local news would start in ten minutes. That's all she was really interested in.

She liked hearing about local heroes and developments. Anything else in the national news she would just watch Mock The Week for on Thursday night; it would give her the basic gist of it and she'd understand it more because they'd make it humorous.

The kettle popped.

Gwen spent the next the minutes milling about in the kitchen portion of her open planned kitchen-diner-lounge poking her head in all the food storage trying to figure out what she could have for dinner that wasn't too much effort.

It wasn't until she heard a familiar voice on the television that she looked back up at it.

"Oh fuck," her jaw dropped and she glared at the screen wide eyed.

Arthur Pendragon sat, crutches leant next to him, on the news readers sofas next to them with a smile on his face. He was being praised for his expert skill.

"I must ask you, Arthur," the female presenter started, "Yesterday you won the Badminton Horse Trials; how is it today that you are on a pair of crutches?" Gwen noticed his smile falter, thoughts bombarding him.

"I had an accident with CK after the trials last night," he lied swiftly. She couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief. It would be the icing on the cake if Arthur started a witch hunt off his own accord.

"You were lucky it wasn't during your run on the jump course."

"Yeah," he faked a laugh. The news readers knew it. Still, the lie had slipped from his tongue so smoothly. Gwen would have believed it had she not known the explicit truth of the situation.

"And how long do they expect you to be out of competitions?"

"A good few months."

"Giving somebody else the chance to shine," the man joked. It fell on deaf ears though; it didn't grant a laugh from neither Arthur nor the female presenter.

Morgana stood out of shot and gently hit herself on the forehead. This had been the most terrible idea. Arthur wasn't in the mood for the interview and now the news reader was making an arse of himself by making lame jokes that nobody found fun.

She noticed the director ordering the interview to be cut short from out of the corner of her eye and she couldn't say she blamed him. The interview had gone from bad to worse in a matter of a minute.

Once he was out of shot and no longer in the focus of the cameras at all Morgana waved for Arthur to come to her. He grabbed his crutches as silently as he could but waited for them to cross over to one of their readers in the field before he made to go to her. He didn't need unwanted attention on him. It would be more embarrassing that being on crutches already way.

The handles of the transport were already starting to rub at the palm of his hands. Morgana had suggested that he bound a few pairs of socks to them to cushion them, but that would just be a needless annoyance. Arthur didn't have the patience to fiddle with things like that; undoubtedly the things would only come off and he'd had to constantly be reattaching them. He would just suffer, and not in silence.

"What was that?" Morgana asked hitting up side the head as they walked out of the studio, the runner opening the door for them with a smile on his face. Morgana thanked him and continued to lead Arthur towards the reception desk so they could leave.

"What was what, Morgana?"

"That shambles!" She jabbed her thumb over her shoulder back towards the studio door. He infuriated her so much sometimes with his stupid ways. He wasn't as untouchable as he liked to think. The previous night had proven that.

"They were asking stupid questions," he shrugged her off as he reached the desk and waited for the receptionist to give them their marching orders.

"'What does it feel like to win?' 'Grunt'," she copied, "Yeah, great answer. Eloquent."

"Can I have my pain killers now?" he asked pointedly ignoring her.

"No. Eight."

Arthur rolled his eyes and quickly signed out and handed back his pass and huffed towards the doors of the building. He didn't want to talk to her, not today. Once they were back at their house he was going to his room, plugging in his console and having a good game of Crash Bandicoot; maybe he'd convince Gwaine he wanted to come over and they could have a good few games of Worms Armageddon…

"You know, you should talk to Gwen," Arthur raised an eyebrow at his half-sister, "Apologise."

"Apologise for her running me over, I don't think so."

"You did run out in front of her. You should have looked where you were going. You properly shook her up," Arthur snorted in response and shook his head. Morgana rolled his eyes. As much as she did adore him, she wanted to hit him about the head with one of her old and heavy university textbooks. It would hurt him and it would please her. Endlessly. "Dad wants to see us."

The childhood home of Siblings Pendragon was a grand affair. They would keep CK there if it didn't mean travelling so far every day and they both liked the city far too much to live in the middle of nowhere. The nearest pub was miles away and full of fuddy duddies.

"Did he say what he wanted?"

"I imagine it might be something to do with you being on the news with a broken leg."

"Right," Arthur groaned. The wrought iron fence opened automatically as they approached it. Arthur had always thought it over-kill but whatever made his father happy with his seemingly endless supply of old money.

"I told you to tell him first."

"I forgot."

"No, you put it off, which is typical of you."

"Don't start, Morgana, I'm about to get 'the speech' from Dad and I don't need it from you too," she pulled up in front of the garages to the side of the house. The gravel crunching beneath the wheels. She got out and pulled Arthur's crutches from the backseat as he opened his door.

"Here," she thrust the first at him then the second. He looped his arms through the holes and slowly brought himself to standing.

"Thanks."

"So it does have manners," Morgana said sarcastically before slamming the car door behind him and taking off towards the house at a faster speed than Arthur.

"That's not fair!" he complained, the gravel was making it harder for him to move at a great speed.

"Then don't run out in front of cars in the future."

x

Uther Pendragon was a powerful man. He had money invested everywhere. If you weren't sure if he owned a share of your company or project chances were he did; even if he didn't make it well known. He knew where to put his money; his cushy lifestyle was enough to tell you that.

To say he was an absent father would probably be laughed off as an understatement. A big one. He saw his children once a week, if that, and they were usually under the care of hired help. It had taken him a long while to realise that his only son was fascinated by horses. It had been one afternoon when he had arrived home from a charity conference earlier than he had anticipated and nobody was around the house.

Sophia, his children's nanny, had left a note on the kitchen counter telling Uther, should he arrive home, exactly where the three of them were. Down the stables.

He had wondered down through the house gardens. He could hear the beating of hooves on the hard ground as one of the horses undoubtedly thundered about the sandy training ring. Uther had never used it, nor had he intended to. It had come with the house along with the stables so he thought he'd fill it. He made a healthy profit from having Millicent teaching local children and adults how to ride.

He had never thought she would extend that to his own kids.

Uther had clapped eyes on his son just as he jumped a four foot fence. His daughter cheered him from the sidelines, surprisingly not riding too. Uther clapped. Morgana's head whipped around at the noise. She grinned and ran up to him, he put his arm about her shoulders as he continued back down towards the arena, "Very good, son."

"Thanks," Arthur said quietly looking to Sophia and Millicent for support.

"Mr Pendragon."

"Sophia. Millicent," he greeted, acknowledging the both in turn, "What wonders are you working on my son?"

"He was quite the natural, Mr Pendragon."

"Is he now?" he said sceptically.

"Yes, sir. He has a competition in a week."

"Really?"

"Yes, sir."

"And nobody sought to tell me this?"

"You've been busy, Mr Pendragon. And Arthur was worried you wouldn't agree to it."

"He would be right."

"There is nowt wrong with riding," Millicent argued, "The lad is good at it. Very good. Bordering on fantastic. It wouldn't be wrong for you to support him, Mr Pendragon."

Of course it had taken Arthur winning three consecutive podiums for Uther to see sense. He'd never agree to Arthur being able to miss school or for him to indeed drop out earlier than getting his A-Levels for him to pursue his chosen career, but he had started to appreciate his son's flare with equines.

"Dad?" Arthur called out as he reached the open front door. Morgana had already disappeared inside without a trace.

"Study," was the only reply he got.

"Dad?" he pushed open the door to the study, carefully resting his left foot on the floor before gently pushing into the room with his crutches. When he was younger he had barely been allow to touch the door let alone go in there. It was only when they were being told off that he would sit them in the chair by the door and give them long, lecturing speeches about right and wrong. It was that chair that his father had sat him in to tell him all about the birds and the bees and how they remotely related to fantasising about the opposite sex (a girl called Imogen Waye to be precise).

"Sit down," Morgana wasn't in the room, undoubtedly already sent away so he could talk 'privately' with his son. Arthur visibly gulped and complied leaving the door open just in case he needed a speedy escape, "What happened?"

"I broke my leg," Arthur said pushing himself out of his chair and seating himself more comfortably.

"I can see that," his father said sternly, "How?"

"I got hit by a car."

"You got hit by a car?" Uther repeated slowly.

"Yes, Dad."

"Was it speeding?"

"No. I wasn't looking where I was going and stepped out in front of it."

"What did you do that for?"

"I didn't do it on purpose!"

"Did they stop?"

"They took me to the hospital."

"No ambulance?"

"We were only ten minutes away. It was easier."

"And how shall they be compensating you?" he plucked a pen from the pot on the top of his table and started to scribble notes down on a notepad he had on his desktop.

"By never being in my life ever again?"

"This could have harming effects on your livelihood. We should talk to our lawyer."

"No, Dad, there's no point. It's not that bad. Clean fracture. A bit of blood where I hit the tarmac. Nothing six weeks on crutches won't fix."

"The point still stands."

"No, Dad. You're not doing this. I've got enough to survive on for the next decade. I don't need to leech off of a _drama_ _teacher_. That's not fair."

"What's not fair, Arthur, is your disability," Arthur scoffed. He really was over doing this. He had always been good at making more of a situation than he should have.

"You're talking as if I lost a leg. It's fractured. It hurts a bit but I'm fine. I didn't even hit my head."

"You're sure of that?"

"Yes, Dad, I'm sure. Christ, just drop it will you? Can't you ask me how I am rather than try and sue some perfectly nice," well, maybe, "girl who didn't mean to do it? It wasn't her fault," he could admit that to his father but not to her. He'd rather leave her to sweat and let her take all the blame he was laying on her. He knew perfectly well it was as much her fault as it was Hammond's fault he crashed the jet car, "it was an accident. Let it go."

"Accidents shouldn't happen."

"And it's my fault it did," Arthur pushed himself out of the car with the aid of his crutch and went to move towards the door, "If that's all you wanted, I'm going."

"You won't get far without Morgana."

"You're right," he hollered his sister's name at the top of his lungs.

"Whaaat?"

"Time to go."

X

One good thing that Morgana got out of Arthur being out of competitions for a few weeks was a bit more time to herself. She didn't have to configure flights and currency. She didn't have to plan her life around Arthur; instead she could plan Arthur around her life for a change.

"Going out!" she shouted up the stairs to her brother who at present was playing computer games with Gwaine who had come over with a six pack only to find out that Arthur couldn't have alcohol whilst on his pain killers. Morgana didn't even get a reply.

She shrugged and walked out, slamming the door behind her.

She sped off in her car heading towards the town centre before veering off to go to the Motorway; it was the quickest way to get to Bristol at this time of day. Otherwise she'd spend half an hour extra sitting in a queue trying to get out of Bath.

She pulled up to an apartment building in the suburbs of Bristol. She frowned; somebody was parked in her boyfriend's car parking space. He didn't own a car so usually it was empty for her to use when she came to visit. She pulled up to park behind it, keeping her car out of the way as much as possible. She'd just have to check where she could park.

When she reached the front door she pressed his buzzer.

No answer. She knew he would be in; it was one of his days off.

She buzzed again.

"Hello?" he sounded gruff as if he was half asleep.

"It's Me."

"Morg?"

"Yeah," he'd sounded shocked, panicked almost. "Can I come in?" she asked with an attempt to laugh when he didn't open the door straight away.

"Sure," a louder buzzer sounded and she pushed in through the door. Morgana walked quickly up the stairs and down the first floor corridor to flat 2B. The door wasn't unlocked and ajar when she got to it like it usually was when he buzzed her up. She frowned. She knocked three times.

When the door finally opened her boyfriend was pulling a hoodie over his head. It wasn't particularly cold. It was rather warm outside and by the feel of it even warmer inside his flat, "Are you okay?"

"Can't be warm," he said. She'd have believe him, but he didn't look sick, "Been feeling rough for days."

"You didn't say, I would have brought you some soup or something," he laughed feebly and kissed her on the forehead.

"I hate soup."

"I know, Al, but you know, the sentiment is there."

"Yeah. You're sweet," he didn't make to move from the short corridor they stood in. His bedroom door was closed. Surely if he was that ill he'd have been in bed, and he never shut the doors.

"Do you need me to do anything? Laundry? Washing up?"

"I'm fine, Morg, really. Just need sleep."

"Is that a hint for me to leave?" she laughed. She didn't get time off often, all she wanted was to spend a bit of time with him before she was jet setting off to France or Germany or wherever it was Arthur's next competition might take her. She'd be bogged under by paper before then.

"Sorry, babe."

"Right," her expression fell, rejected. She turned back towards the door. She wasn't going to stay if he didn't want her to. She caught a glimpse of red out of the corner of her eye. It was a coat she realised once she focused on it. A coat that wasn't hers.

Al realised what she had stopped to look at the second he followed the direction of her look, "Morg-"

"Right," the realisation hit her square in the face; the car; the coat; the 'cold'; "Well now I know. See you around, you jerk."

She didn't feel the need to cry. The whole thing had been over for months. He didn't like her loyalty to her brother. He often called him a 'prat' and a 'tosser'. The two of the had met once and taken an instant dislike to the other. Morgana would have found it amusing if they didn't keep trying to play each other off against the other. Arthur had given up pretty quickly when he realised that he did always tend to win when it came to who got more time with Morgana, but he would never support a relationship with somebody he deemed as 'creepy'.

Arthur wouldn't be surprised – and would probably say 'I told you so' – if she went home and told him. She'd just have to potter around in the city for a while then go home.

x

"Go, go, go, go, go!" Gwaine shouted at the top of his lungs as he continually poked the 'x' key of his controller. Like Arthur, he didn't go all out on gaming etiquette. He didn't know what square, circle and triangle did all he knew was the 'x' made him go faster and the arrow keys manoeuvred him left and right. If they were playing 'Tekken' then he merely button smashed until he found a combination that did something cool.

Arthur was very much the same.

It worked well for the when they got together. They usually ended up playing the more strategic games like Worms – somewhere amidst the guns and sheep bombs they promised there was some sort of logical way to play the game so you manage to kill your opponent and not your own Worms. Morgana called it 'aim'. Arthur and Gwaine called it 'skill'.

"Noooo!" Gwaine had managed to crash his game car – for once they had decided to play racing games instead – and Arthur crossed the finish line breaking his own personal record, "So what you were saying is some hot girl ran you over?"

"No, what I'm saying is some moderately plain looking girl did," Arthur threw down his controlling onto the carpet. He could see his friend's mind working. The way it always did. Tick; girl. Tick; pretty? Tick; yes. Tick; Number. Tick.

"And you didn't get her number?" He was predictable.

"No."

"Why not? You could have given it to me."

"Like you need the help."

"That much is true; but if this girl is willing to run you over then tend to your every need I'd like her number. That and I'd like to high-five her for crippling you," Arthur punched his friend hard on the arm.

"Thanks, so much."

"Any time," he took a swig from his beer, "Do I get to meet her?"

"No, why would you?"

"She sounds like fun."

"I didn't get her number and she _ran me over_. Why would I ever see her again?"

"She sounds like fun?" Gwaine repeated, "Tell me again why you didn't get her number?" he joked. Arthur punched back, "You don't know how to have a good time."

"I know how to have a good time."

"No? You've not ridden a horse today and you're all doom and gloom. It's not the end of the world if you spent twenty-hour hours away from Creepy Knight."

"Camelot King."

"Whatever. You can go to the yard you know. To have your freaky affair," Gwaine clicked, a thought occurred to him, "That's it! You need to get laid!"

"With a cast? Really sexy."

"When was the last time you had a night out that didn't end with you leaving with Morgana?" when Arthur didn't answer him right away he interjected, "Exactly. Maybe you should sleep with Gwen. She won't mind the cast, it's her fault after all."

"No, Gwaine, no," Arthur picked up his controller and clicked through the menu, "Get ready to play, Mr Knight."

"Changing the subject won't make the problem go away."

"This time it will, prepare to lose."


	2. Chapter 2

Morgana sat in the corner of the coffee shop with her hands cupped around her drink. She felt numb. Everything around her had shortly fallen to pieces and now Al was sleeping with somebody else and lying to her simultaneously.

The world really was full of shit. A lot of it.

A cheerful face appeared before her; the smile on it quickly disappearing when he realised that his new friend wasn't smiling back at him. "What's wrong, Morgana?"

"Nothing."

"Come on; that's not nothing," he said as he noticed a tissue in her hand, crumpled and very used. Merlin pulled out his chair and sat opposite her.

"My boyfriend cheated on me this morning. Probably not for the first time. I don't know what I did. I did nothing but be there for him. I mean the last few weeks with Arthur have been hard I've been working for him a lot more and not seeing Al. But he usually understands. I travel _everywhere_ with Arthur. He knows how much our life means to both of us."

"Both of you?"

"Arthur gets the glory and the limelight but I love it. I get to see the world. I get to cheer on my family day in day out and he pays me to do it. I couldn't ask for an easier job than the one I have. So why do I feel like I have to give it all up to be completely happy?"

"You don't have to," Merlin reached across the table and rested his hand on her wrist, he gently rubbing his thumb over her exposed skin, "When the right guy comes along he'll make the effort to go with you. He won't cheat on you with somebody else whilst your back is turned.

"I don't know why I'm telling you this. I just didn't know who else to call," Morgana didn't have any friends outside of her friendship group that she shared with Arthur. She didn't have any girly friends (unless you counted Percy after a few drinks) and she didn't trust any of them not to tell Arthur. That was the problem when your closest friend was your brother. You couldn't tell him some things without him going 'protective-action-hero' on you.

"I don't mind. Gwen was driving me crazy anyway."

"Don't you have any other friends?"

"Not really, no," he said sombrely.

"Oh. Sorry, I-"

"I'm joking," he said mouth breaking into a toothy grin, "I just spend the majority of my time with her," he said honestly. Branches, that was what he needed. Not twigs. Strong limbs that could hold the weight of new friends and not just snap off as time went on.

"Oh. Ohh," Morgana shook her head and mumbled something to herself, "That makes sense, you know."

"What does?" Merlin looked positively perplexed. His brow creased as he frowned at her. It might have made perfect sense to her but she had lost him.

"You and Gwen."

"Me and Gwen what?"

"You're a 'Merlin and Gwen'."

Merlin snorted, "Nooooo," he laughed, unable to contain his giggles, "Oh _God_ no."

"What's wrong with her?" Morgana asked taken aback. From what he had seen Merlin had thought the world of Gwen. He'd laughed at her when he'd run Arthur over; only a true friend would do that before promptly helping them.

"_Nothing_, no, it's not that. She's just like the little sister-who-is-actually-older-then-me I never had," he shrugged. He knew his Mum would happily adopt Gwen into their family. Back in the day it had been in the 'you have the potential to be my daughter-in-law' one day but over time it had developed into 'you're the daughter I never had' which suited Merlin just fine, "We've never even kissed."

"Not once?" Morgana had a lot of male friends. She _only_ had male friends. And she had kissed all of them at least once since she had known them. Either out of a dare or because she was very drunk and feeling affectionate.

"Never properly," Merlin said with a shrug, "Never on the lips. Just the sort of kiss you'd give your Grandmother on Christmas Day. Only without feeling repulsed by it."

"Oh, okay. Sorry," Morgana smiled. She was feeling better now she wasn't wallowing in her own pity all the time Avoidance was the best way of dealing for her. She would happily forget that that morning had ever happened and move on with her life forgetting about Al's existence and re-writing her past without him in it. He wasn't a note-worth individual in her life. It was fine, "So is there someone who's not Gwen?"

"No. I don't really meet many women in my line of work. I mean there's Freya, she's nice enough but really quiet and then there is the receptionist, Brenda, but she's old enough to be my Great Aunt."

"Well, some people dig that kind of thing."

His nose wrinkled in disgust. The thought of doing anything with Brenda apart from chat on his way in and out of work was something that made his stomach churn. He'd made her a cup of tea once, but she was ill and he took pity on her for coming into the office when she really shouldn't have been there. Had she not been sat down and at waist height he could have sworn she would have pinched his cheek, "Some people. Not me."

"Well, you see like a great guy. Whoever gets you is lucky. I don't see you cheating on anybody. You're far too nice for that."

"Thanks?" they both laughed, "I'm going to get a drink, can I get you anything?"

"I'm okay thanks. I shouldn't drink too much coffee. Does funny things to my head," fully acknowledged, Merlin took off towards the counter.

x

It wasn't late when Morgana got home. She came in the front door just as Arthur and Gwaine were retreating back upstairs towards the game room. Gwaine had a tray with drinks, multiple bags of crisps and other sugary snacks on whilst Arthur slowly followed him up the stairs on his crutches.

"Where've you been?" Arthur asked once he clocked that Morgana had shut the front door. He hadn't noticed her leave.

"Out."

"Out where."

"None of your damned business," she threw her bag down onto one of the bottom steps and unbuttoned her jacket laying it on top. She moved off towards the kitchen.

"Oi!" Arthur shouted now at the top of the stairs and looking down over the banister. Gwaine had stopped beside him. All he wanted to do was eat and drink. He didn't want to wait for sibling wars to be over, "You can't leave that there. I might fall over it!"

"Then be more careful!" Morgana shouted back from the kitchen.

"Bitch," Arthur grumbled under his breath moving away towards the games room.

"Prick!" Morgana shouted. Gwaine started to laugh at Arthur. The blonde couldn't help but smile. He loved his sister dearly; he knew she didn't mean it.

Most of the time.

x

Merlin Emrys was a scientist who believed in reliable numbers and research. He didn't believe in maybes and could best, everything either was or would be. Everything was definite. Yet he still used Wikipedia as a quick source. Only about the likes of the Pendragons. He'd never believe what it said about quantum mechanics.

The Wikipedia page about Morgana Pendragon was even briefer than the one about her brother and pretty much told him the same thing Arthur's page had told him about her. It had no information of interest at all. At least he had conclusive proof that she was single now (and he knew her birthday was April 19th).

Merlin sighed; so much for finding out if it was worth seeing if she wanted to go out sometime. Maybe not now. She needed time for the rebound period to pass.

"Merlin?" a gentle female voice called across the lab; a short brunette appeared at the other end. She leant against the door frame and watched him, "Monroe wants to know when you'll be finished with his samples."

He quickly closed his internet browser and opened the results he had already gathered; "I think I'm done. He can have them back."

"Cheers," she came over to him and took the small tray; "Merlin," she said, her voice more timid than usual, "I was wondering if you were free tonight?"

"Well, I was going to spend my evening with a rather challenging sudoku."

"Oh-"

"I'm kidding."

"Would you care to join me for a drink?"

Merlin beamed back at her, "Sure."

"Excellent, I'll meet you on the way out?"

"Okay," he couldn't help but notice as she walked away how far her hair came down her back and how it swayed with every step she took. She was stunning. He had always known it. Despite being shy and beyond continually anxious; she had always had a quality about her that had intrigued Merlin. Though they'd never said anything more than "Can I have those slides?" before now. Yesterday he'd spent three hours chatting to Morgana about anything and everything.

_Why is it that everything like this happens at once?_ He'd not shown any interest anybody for years; not even Gwen – which his mother had often wondered about – and now he had two equally beautiful women who had taken his interest. And both of them seemed to have taken an interest in him too.

Merlin made a mental note to ask Gwen about the situation later; she would know what to do.

x

On the 17th of November seven years ago Merlin had met Gwen at a tea society meeting. They'd both gone for a laugh. Gwen had bee told by her own father that she didn't go out enough and Merlin – among his group of friends – had pulled society out of the hat. He'd been hoping for the Sci-fi Soc or something like that, but afterwards he was grateful he'd gotten the Tea Soc. Gwen was a breath of fresh air compared to his sciencey-minded uni friends.

He'd turned to her whenever he needed help and advice on something that his geeky male friends would be no use with. His times of need decreased slowly over the years but occasionally he utilised his friendship and asked her something. Usually about his current relationship or weird feelings he was having about issues like his job or his new flat.

He'd refused to sleep there for a week and ended up on Gwen's sofa because there was something wrong with the place. Gwen had humoured him and even gone along with him when he'd printed out some banishing 'spell' from the internet. She'd mostly stood then with her lips clamped together with her teeth so she didn't laugh out loud at the ridiculousness of it. It got him off of her sofa in the end.

It was Gwen that told Merlin that going out with Freya was a good idea. If she was showing interest in him and he liked her, what was the harm in it? If it wasn't enjoyable or didn't work at least then he would know. She'd also said there was no point thinking about Morgana. They'd known her for two days and had hardly spoken to her without regards to Arthur.

Merlin was relaxed. Going straight after work meant that they would both be in the same clothes they'd been wearing all day and he wasn't at risk of dressing up too much or dressing down too much. He already knew that she was wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt under her lab coat and that suited him perfectly.

x

Five o'clock came around fast after he'd hung up the phone to Gwen. It wasn't everyday that he would be so helpless and have to pick up the phone during Gwen's lunch break and phone her in a panic. There hadn't been many times over the last few years that he had met any other women – that weren't Gwen – thus none that had taken his fancy.

Merlin shrugged off his lab coat and discarded it on the back of his desk chair. He straightened his t-shirt and checked that he didn't smell too bad. Once satisfied he grabbed his bag and headed for the door.

Freya was waiting in the reception for him when he appeared.

"Hi," she greeted quietly. Brenda behind the reception smiled at him and winked. He smiled at her and granted her farewell.

"Where did you have in mind?" Merlin asked once they were out in the street. He hadn't thought it through himself so he was hoping she had. It was her idea after all.

"I was thinking of this little pub down the road? It does good chips and it's not too busy."

"Sounds like an excellent idea."

x

When they arrived Merlin held the door for her. She nervously thanked him, tucking her loose hair behind her ear, "Thank you."

Merlin smiled at her. They took the table near to the window. Merlin threw his bag by his feet and sat comfortably in the chair. The menus were in the middle of the table. Merlin took it from the hold and began to read over it. It didn't have anything particularly spectacular on it; the usual pub cuisine, "Large chips?"

Freya quietly agreed.

"Great, I'll be right back," he turned to go towards the bar, "Oh, what do you want to drink?"

"Half of the guest?"

"Okay," he smiled, trying not to make the situation any more awkward than it could potentially turn out to be.

Merlin came back minutes later with their drinks and his change still in his hands. He put the two glasses down on the table and pocketed his change. Freya held out a closed fist; "Here."

"Oh, no, don't worry about it. These are on me," she smiled meekly at him, "Food should be about five minutes. I got some garlic bread as well 'cause I could smell it when I was at the bar and it was too tempting to pass on."

"Fair enough," she smiled tentatively and timidly took a sip from the head of the beer, "they do it on ciabatta here. It's quite nice," Merlin smiled reassuringly at her, taking the seat next to her on the circular table rather than opposite.

"Sounds good to me."

X

"It wasn't a complete disaster," Merlin said into his landline as he led on his bed with his night light on. They'd left the pub by seven. They'd eaten with light conversation, mainly talking about work and how they'd gotten into it. Merlin had told her stories about playing in the garden as a kid with a pooter in one hand and a magnifying glass in the other. He'd taken many the bug apart one leg at a time.

"But?"

"She was really quiet," for every story and anecdote that Merlin had told Freya had barely given him anything back, "I know we have a lot in common but she was so nervous. It was sweet at first but towards the end of the night I wondered why she had asked me to go with her at all."

"She's a nice girl," Gwen said in return sounding as if she was concentrating on something else rather than what Merlin had to say, "She was nervous. What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing. It was just hard to carry off a one person conversation all night."

"So what are you going to do?"

"See what happens I guess?" he shrugged.

"You could always take her somewhere else next time. Like to the cinema. Or somewhere where you don't have to talk so much."

"Yeah, maybe."

"She's nice, Merlin, she's a good catch. She'll settle her nerves soon," Merlin sighed. He supposed she was right but until that time it would be hard for him to try and get closer to her whilst she was so closed off. You needed to give to get in Merlin's point of view, and he was giving her a lot and getting nothing back; "She's just over come with nerves; she'll get over it."

"This is why I love you," he said through a sigh. He knew that Gwen was right. He did. But that didn't make it any easier.

"I know."

"Night, Gwen."

"Sleep well, Merlin."

X

Being a teacher it wasn't often that Gwen would go out on a school night. Not when she had to be up at 6:30 the next morning to shower, dress and eat something sufficient to see her through to lunchtime (sometimes it would have to last until 5pm when she got home.) Yet somehow Merlin managed to convince her that going clubbing on a Thursday night was a good idea; "It's cheap night!" he'd argued, "It'll be fun!"

Fun if you didn't have Sixth Formers the next morning, some of which she might run into and then they'd pick up on her hang-over, if she had one, and ridicule her for the next month. They wouldn't show her any mercy. She didn't hold back on them if they came crawling in after a heavy night out.

Merlin spent nearly an hour on the phone telling her it was a good idea. He'd even pay for a dress for her to wear if she decided to come; "I know you want to drag me around Southgate. They have a Pizza Express. I'm down with that," she'd laughed and told him she had a dress she could wear and he could save his suffering for another day.

She'd been able to hear his sigh of relief down the phone line, "I love you, Gwen, but I'm not willing to die of boredom. Even for you."

"I know. I wouldn't think of it," she reassured him. She'd dragged him shopping many times in the past and had always ended up with a headache from his constant complaints. She'd learnt her lesson.

"So you'll come?"

She conceded as she looked at the pile of marking she had to do; "I'll come."

"Thank you! I-"

"You love me, I know. I love you too, mister, otherwise I wouldn't do this."

X

The spring evening wind was warm compared to chill it had held the past few weeks. The sun was still in the sky, ready to set behind the cityscape. Groups of twenty-somethings gathered in the streets ready to meet their friends. Some already carried half empty wine bottles. Joining the partiers against his will was Arthur Pendragon. He had his crutches in one hand as he sat in the back of a taxi with Morgana as it pulled up to the curb outside of the club, "I'm going to look completely out of place," he complained as they climbed out of the taxi, Morgana handing him his crutches one at a time.

"You can stand in the corner and drink and sway. It'll be great fun," she said as she straightened out the bottom of her black dress. She pulled it down so it was covering the top half of her legs. She had her hair down and over one shoulder. She stood taller than Arthur in her four inch heels and she revelled in it.

"Remind me again why I'm here?" He said looking up at her; he slouched against the handles of his crutches.

"Because you need to stop moping and get out of the bloody house."

"I do get out of the house."

"_And_ out of the yard?" She said, she raised her eyebrows at him and looked at him with that look she got when she knew she was right. It was the look that said 'You can't argue with me.'

"It's out of the house isn't it?" Arthur relented, any other form of argument would only get shot down, much like he considered she would do to this one…

"You're depressing yourself…"

"You've been speaking to Gwaine, haven't you?" he rocked back on his crutches and looked to the floor. He knew it was the case but he hadn't not ridden a horse every day for the last ten years. Hanging out at the yard was the closest he got and it was true; he did start to feel a little bit down when he couldn't get on CK and put him through his paces. The Livery Owner's daughter had been helping him out running the usual drills with him so he didn't get unfit.

"Yes," Morgana said, not to Arthur's surprise, "and Lance and Leon and Percy and-"

"Okay, I get the point. But honestly, Morgana, crutches in a club?"

"Well fine, we'll meet everybody outside and go to the pub," She said throwing her hair over her shoulder, "just as long as it's out of the house and not at the yard!"

"I can compromise to that," Arthur stepped down, he leant back against the building they were stood next to. He could see several pubs close by, he just hoped they weren't seedy and horrible.

"Good," Arthur rested his head back against the stone and closed his eyes, "Merlin and Gwen should be here in a minute."

"_Gwen_?" his eyes snapped back open again and he glowered at Morgana, "You invited _Gwen_?"

"Yes. You have a problem with that?"

Arthur looked down at his crutches and looked up at Morgana again, "You could say that, yes."

"Oh get off your high horse, she's apologised a hundred times," quite literally. Since Morgana had started talking to Merlin on a daily basis she had given him their home number; they got free evening calls so it would eat into their contracts. He in turn had given it to Gwen who spoke to Morgana and always finished her conversation asked Morgana to apologise to Arthur which she would do. But he wouldn't let it go.

"Well thanks to her I'm not _on_ my high horse, I'm not on a horse at all!"

"Oh you've got a month left of crutches. Get over it, for Christ's sake!"

"Easy for you to say. You do realise if I can't compete you're out of a job, right?"

"Then I'll get another. I'm sure plenty of people out their need an assistant. Oh maybe I could work for that band you really hate! They're nicer to look at than you."

"You'd rather work for me. I'd pay you better than any f-list boy band."

"I'd rather work for a f-list boy band than a z-list sportsman who is also my brother."

"Oi-"

"Alright children, enough," Gwaine interjected as he arrived. He greeted Morgana with a swift kiss on the cheek.

"Tonight is your lucky night," Arthur said dryly.

"Oh yeah?"

Arthur looked over Gwaine's shoulder as a taxi pulled up behind them. Gwaine turned to see a women, similar to their age, climb out of the back seat, followed by a wiry male. Her hair was half pinned up with curls cascading down her back. She wore a simple black dress and a pair of silver leggings. A pair of killer heels finishing off her outfit, "Are we late?" she asked Morgana who greeted her enthusiastically.

"Not at all. Gwen, Merlin, this is Gwaine. Gwaine, this is Gwen and Merlin."

"Gwen?" Gwaine quirked his eyebrow, he reached to shake her hand, bringing it to his lips, "Nice to meet you. I've heard so much."

"I'd say all good things-"

"You managed to take Arthur down a few pegs before actually meeting him; that's good in my book," he released her hand and took in his surroundings, "A-ha! Lance! So glad you could make it," his friend was wearing nothing but a thin t-shirt and jeans, and although it wasn't cold the breeze made it a little nippy, "Meet my good friend, Gwen!"

"Night off," he confirmed. He looked at the female his friend was introducing and smiled, "Nice to meet you," he smiled at her and looked at his friend, "You don't have any friends called Gwen."

"As of thirty seconds ago, I do," Gwen laughed, she couldn't help it. She felt at ease with these guys, they weren't giving her a cold shoulder like Arthur was. He hadn't even looked at her since she'd gotten there, he'd busied himself with glaring at his flirting friend.

"I'd watch out for that one Gwen," Lance said, "He befriends everything."

"Seems like quite a nice way to go through life to me."

"He has six hundred Facebook friends. He knows about six of them properly."

"People like me, what can I say?"

"Leon!" Morgana waved out at a man walking down the street, it wasn't until he stooped to hug Morgana that Gwen noticed how tall he was, "Meet Merlin and Gwen. Now we can go find a pub," she reported to Arthur.

"Pub?" Gwaine protested, "I thought we were having a party."

"Mr Grumpy Pants has drawn a line through that plan. Says we can't club if he can't."

"You can drink for cheaper in the pub," Arthur said before Gwaine turned his attack on him.

"Pub it is."

x

They found a secluded spot in the corner of the first pub they'd come to. None of them had been in there before but the alcohol was cheap and there were bar snacks on offer, they didn't need much else. Merlin sat talking animatedly to Leon and Morgana about how it was a possibility that the world could end in 2012, but there was a bigger chance of you winning the Lottery three weeks in a row than it happening; "Besides," he said, "If the world ends, we'd have spent so much money on the Olympics for no reason."

Gwen was talking to both Gwaine and Lance, they seemed to take an interest in the play she'd been directing and were both asking her questions about it. Arthur could see right through Gwaine, it was what he did every time. He picked up on what it was that the girl was proud of or liked to talk about and suddenly it because his biggest interest too.

Arthur sat on his own, wishing that Percy hadn't decided to suddenly get the flu and wasn't coming. Talking to Merlin about the apocalypse didn't interest him and he wasn't about to speak to Gwen unless his life depended on it. He'd tried to get Lance's attention from her but it hadn't worked. The pair of his friends were like a child with a new toy. It was pathetic really.

Gwen, in a moment of silence, looked at Arthur. He caught her eye. She smiled at him, trying to bridge the gap between them but he looked away from her and rolled his eyes.

If that was how he was going to be, Gwen decided she wouldn't try again. She turned her attention back to Gwaine and Lance and laughed. They were easy to get along with; even if they were mostly just flirting, they were making her comfortable in a new group of friends.

"How many hours a week do you rehearse?"

"About ten. Three hours after school on Tuesdays and Wednesdays then lunchtimes every day bar Friday. Though we're rehearsing all day Monday. First curtain Monday night."

"Lucky kids."

"Why's that?"

"Getting to spend so much time with you."

"I'm not sure they see it that way."

"Of course not. They just love Miss…?"

"Leodegrance."

"They just love Miss Leodegrance for her teaching."

"I like to think so."

"So naïve."

"Even if that was the reason why, at least they're good."

"All to do with you, I'm sure."

"Well of course," she grinned, "What is it you do?" she asked, too long now had the topic of conversation been about her. Despite his tactics to seem interested in her working, she wanted to know about him as well.

"He's a bum," Lance replied for him, "Aren't you, Gwaine?"

"Some would say that. I do odd jobs. Mainly help out my neighbour with the things she can't do at seventy-eight," Lance snorted into his glass, choking on the swig of beer he had just taken, "Well I do. Ask Dot yourself. She makes a killer cup of tea."

"I'm sure she does."

"She pays me in meals and tea. It's a good deal."

"Mainly so he doesn't have to cook," Lance said in Gwen's ear. She laughed, catching his eye and smiling at him.

Arthur watched the exchange. It served nothing but not annoy him. She was being welcomed into their fold easier than any of the others had even been. She didn't even have to wear a low-cut top to win Gwaine's approval. She just had to be there.

And have broken his leg.

Gwaine looked over at his friend as he drank his Guinness; Gwen and Lance talking about him next to them. Arthur didn't see him, but the sour look on his face spoke wonders. Gwaine smirked to himself; oh yeah, he really hated her. With her perfect, freckled skin and wild ringlets. He'd never pegged Arthur to be one who was into that sort of thing; but whatever floated his boat. If he wanted to get off on pain who was he to stop him?

x

Ellis had forced her on the door. She smiled and welcomed the parents. She wanted to be backstage with the cast. She wanted to make sure they were okay. They'd been panicked all day, she wanted them to be confident.

A hand covered her eyes from behind. She squeaked, "Mer-lin!" he laughed, appearing in front of her with Morgana by his side. She hugged him quickly.

"We are here to show our support," Merlin declared, showing her his tickets.

"You should have said I would have gotten you in for free."

"Now she tells me!" Morgana and Merlin exchanged a look. They both turned to Gwen with a smile on their faces. They were there for her, they were willing to pay the measly five pounds for a seat to watch something she had put so much effort into.

"You guys should find a seat it's going to start soon."

"Sure thing," Morgana beamed ready to go into the hall.

"Merlin?" a small voice said behind them. He turned suddenly to find the source; he hadn't been expecting to know anybody else here.

"Freya? Hi," he beamed, still in remote shock but covered himself well, "What are you doing here?" he realised straight away he could have said it in a nicer way. He'd seen Freya a few more times; never once did it lead to anything more than him holding her hand. It was all too polite. She'd never subsided her nerves and it got to the point where Merlin had given up trying. If she wanted for anything to happen then she would have to make the next move.

"My brother's in the play," she said sheepishly, "You?"

"Gwen is in charge of the whole thing. You know Gwen, right?" he said playfully shoving his friend forward with every intention of using her as a shield should the need arise. He stood between the two women of interest to him. Morgana's glare boring into the back of his head.

"Yeah, I've seen you around work before," she shook Gwen's hand.

"This is our friend, Morgana. Morgana this is Freya," she smiled politely, but it never reached her eyes. Gwen looked between her and Merlin; the niggle that her friend had been lying to her quite spectacularly set in. '_Nothing happening with Morgana, eh?'_

"I'm going to go find some seats near the front," Morgana decided, with a flash in her eye that Gwen didn't miss, even if Merlin did, "Do you want me to save you a seat by us, Gwen?"

Gwen nodded, "Please."

"Okay, we'll see you in a minute."

"Would you like to sit with us?" Merlin offered; Freya smiled.

"I'd like that."

'_Morgana won't_,' Gwen thought to herself, she excused herself. She wanted to get in backstage before the curtain was opened, even if Ellis wanted her out the front, she was going to talk to the kids; wish them good luck.

x

The curtains were closed. Gwen walked backwards and forth across the stage, she corrected every costume, every prop. She adjusted her own dress. Her main cast were all sitting nervously and waiting. Gwen checked her watch, five minutes, "Everybody onto the stage please," she called down one side. She crossed the stage and repeated herself.

All of the cast gathered in front of her, she stood on a chair that was meant for part of Mrs Lyon's dining set and clapped once loudly, "Okay guys; opening night! Curtain in four minutes. I'm nervous, so I can't imagine how you guys are feeling. But you are amazing. You've worked so hard, nothing is going to go wrong. Just do what you did this morning and you will blow this lot away.

"All that's left to say is good luck. You will do brilliantly I can assure you of that! Go, be ready! Curtain in three!" She jumped down from the chair with a hand from her Mickey, "Thank you. Good luck Tom, you'll blow them away."

"So you just said."

"You're all kinds of funny; you made me cry this morning remember?"

"You sure that wasn't from how awful I was?" she tapped him on the bicep in reprimand.

"Go, get ready, Tom. You'll be fine," Gwen sought out a girl by the name of Amy, she was playing Mrs Johnstone, she was the one who got to say when they went ahead, "Get into position, and once I'm out of the way, you can start whenever you like, okay?"

"Yes Miss," she smiled nervously in response.

"You'll be fine," Gwen walked out from behind the curtain and slipped down the side of the audience to find her seat between Merlin and Morgana. Freya sat on her best friend's other side looking nervous and a little out of place.

"Okay?" Merlin enquired.

"Good to go," she settled down into her seat. She waited with baited breath, this was it. This was her big show. If this went wrong Ellis would never let her be in charge of a play again. The butterflies in her stomach were raged.

The curtain opened, it was beginning.

x

Gwaine was busy. Lance was busy. Leon was busy. Even Percy was busy.

Arthur sat staring at the ceiling making shapes out of the swirls in the white-painted plaster above his head. He blew a raspberry between his lips and drummed out an irregular beat on his stomach.

He was bored.

Morgana had gone out to spent time with the enemy and he was stuck with nowhere to go. He'd managed to grab the bunch of grapes from the kitchen and had entertained himself by throwing them in the air and trying to catch them in his mouth. He'd gotten steadily worse and soon given it up as a bad job and just ate them. All too quickly.

Over three hundred channels on the television and nothing was playing anything he wanted to watch. The music on the video channels weren't to his cup of tea. He could have watched a film but that would mean having to get up and it was too much effort to make.

He'd even read one of Morgana's trashy gossip magazines in one last ditch attempt at curing his boredom. There had been an article about how two women who had met on holiday in Malaga who had fallen in love and eventually found out, after they'd had a baby, that they were related through their fathers. At that Arthur had put the magazine down and sworn never to touch the creepy things again.

Arthur pulled the coffee table towards him. From one of the draws beneath it he pulled out random objects and laid them out on the tabletop. He grabbed the spoon he had had in his tea cup that Morgana had given him before she'd left and the knife from his dinner and started to tap out a rhythm on the objects. It was more than enough to amuse him.

x

Gwen looked around, there were tears in the eyes of some of the parents, one lady was dabbing her cheeks with a handkerchief. She smiled, it couldn't have gone any better. Merlin elbowed in her in the side, she looked at him and he grinned fro ear to ear, "Congrats Miss Director; jolly good show."

She stood and made her way up onto the stage before the kids could run off after their bows. She clapped Tom on the shoulder. Amy hugged into her side, "I'd just like to say," Gwen shouted over the applause, "That these kids have worked so hard over the last few months. I never thought when we started out with this that we would be this good. They were all amazing, as I'm sure you'd agree.

"Thank you so much for coming! It means so much to all of us. Thank you for your support and thank you to my colleague, Peter for letting me do this. It was a great opportunity for me and for the cast. But mostly, thank you to these guys for making the last few months as stress-free as possible and generally being quite fantastic!"

"We'd like to thank you, Miss. You've been a great director and teacher all year and this is a great last hurrah before we leave and for the younger ones it's a great way for them to start their drama careers here. We all hope you stick around for a good while yet."

"Thanks, Tom," she grinned, he quickly hugged her before jokingly pushing her away. The audience laughed. The cast bowed one more time, taking Gwen down with them. "Thank you!" she saw Merlin whistle at the loudest volume. Morgana was clapping loudly.

The curtain closed.

"Great show guys, only three more nights to go!" they all groaned at her, "Party on Friday. Look forward to it. Perform excellently. Have fantastic careers."

"As a drama teacher in a private school," one of the older boys heckled.

"As a drama teacher. Though I don't think you guys could do my job."

"No Miss," the same boy said back with a laugh, "We'd do it better."

x

The desk that Gwen had situated in the Drama Department looked out over the playing fields. The boys were currently out at football practise. She had the window open and she could hear the constant calls to Rick to 'pass the bloody ball!' She laughed. She knew Rick well. He was one of those incredibly popular sporty people who made it cool to be into Drama. It was thanks to the likes of him that she had managed to rope in a lot of the more burly players to play a part in her production.

The young drama teacher had been staring at the blank word document before her. She was meant to be writing a letter to the parents of the children in the play thanking them for their cooperation over the last few months. It was all a load of bullshit that none of them would read and would only end up in the bin (not recycling). Ellis had told her she had to write it. Something about her needing to show her willingness to recognise others assistance.

Gwen had nearly scoffed at the idea to his face. One of the parents didn't even come to pick up their son after a late night rehearsal. Gwen had given the boy the taxi fare herself.

She relented and had decided she would utilise her free time and write the damned thing.

She liked to read words out loud, not write them…

Gwen jumped when her phone vibrated in the desk draw – out of sight from the students – she was baffled as to who would be phoning at this time. Everybody knew she worked until four and it was only two now. She eyed her phone; Morgana.

"Hello?"

"Gwen?"

"Morgana?" She didn't know why on Earth Morgana would need to phone her during the day, unless she had accidentally murdered Merlin and needed Gwen to be her ally.

"Hi; I have a favour to ask you. A _huge_ favour, actually."

"Go on?"

"Arthur's got an appointment at the hospital in half and hour and I'm stuck in Bristol. I've called everybody we know and I can't get hold of anyone or they are all incapacitated elsewhere."

"Okay?" Gwen didn't like where this was going. The last time she'd seen Arthur he had made it perfectly clear that he wasn't interested in being friends with her; he hadn't been particularly pleasant all evening.

"Is there any remote possibility that you might be able to pick him up from the livery and get him there? I'll owe you big time."

"I would Morgana but I'm still at school."

"Are you teaching?" there was a definite sense of pleading in Morgana's tone already and she had barely started the conversation; whatever it was, Gwen knew she wasn't going to like it.

"On a free lesson…"

"Plead family emergency?" she said doing exactly that to Gwen, pleading.

"I would, Morgana, but-"

"Please? I'd get him to take a taxi but the hospital doesn't like it. He should be getting his cast off today and they like to have a second person there to make sure he gets home okay," Gwen knew that was true. When there was any possibility that they needed to do any sort of procedure they liked to send people home with somebody just in case of side effects. She had been that person for her father many a time. The last time she'd let alone.

"Arthur doesn't like me, Morgana," she stated simply. It was one of the more obvious things in her life right now unlike everything else, "He won't want me there."

"Don't be silly," Morgana said flippantly, "he does like you."

"He has a funny way of showing it."

"Please, Gwen? I wouldn't ask if I wasn't desperate!"

Gwen pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. She let out a long breath, "Fine. You owe me."

"Thank you; thank you; thank you!" Morgana reeled off the instructions on how to get to the livery yard and thanked her again. Gwen was just grateful it wasn't too far. Gwen hit the 'out of office' button on her email and left Ellis a note. He could take any phone calls of great importance; he was head of the department after all.

She headed out, turning up Lansdown Hill and hitting the gas. The Livery wasn't all that far, she just had to go as far as the main road about two miles down the road she was on now and double back on herself for a mile then turn off down the other side of the hill that she was currently on to the hospital.

It only took her five minutes before she was pulling up to the turning for the livery. She spotted Arthur standing by the edge of the field, leaning helplessly on the fence as somebody else rode his horse about the field. He looked dejected.

She pulled up to the main barn and killed the ignition of her car.

Arthur hadn't even noticed her pull up. He'd only ever seen her battered old car in the dark before now so he probably hadn't registered who it was having been expecting Morgana. He looked completely enthralled watching his horse go about the course with precision.

Gwen slowly made her way up behind him, her feet crunching into the gravel path. Arthur looked over his shoulder at the noise, he frowned; "What do you want?" he said rather coldly. It wasn't a surprise to Gwen.

"Morgana didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?" he said looking back into the field.

"She's stuck in Bristol; needs me to take you to RUH."

Surely there was somebody somewhere that wasn't Gwen that was available? Arthur pulled his phone from his pocket, "No signal."

"Well there you go then," an awkward silence fell. Gwen stepped up so she was level with the fence, watching the rider guide the horse about the small course that had been set up, "We should go. You're appointment is in about twenty minutes."

"They're always late," he didn't like to leave. If he couldn't ride he didn't want somebody else riding him without him there. CK could go lame or get injured in another way. He wasn't the most trusting horse; he only liked to go back into the stable with Arthur there.

"The sooner you get there the sooner you get that off and the closer to get to being able to ride again," Arthur sighed, he knew she was right. He waved over the girl from the livery yard and she came trotting over.

"Everything alright, Mr P?" she asked. She was no more then sixteen; she must have been one of the daughters of the farmer who owned the yard.

"I've got to go," he said running his hand up the side of the horse's neck, "You okay taking him round a few more times then taking him in?"

"Yeah," she beamed, "He's an awesome ride."

"Yeah, he is. Thanks Soph," he kissed his horse on the nose.

"Any time, Mr P."

"Just be careful going into the stall okay? If he starts kicking up put the blinkers on that are next to it. And feed him as you go in and he should be okay," he explained. The girl looked like she had been told this a number of times before but she nodded and agreed anyway.

Arthur picked up his crutches from where he had leant them against the fence and turned to Gwen as Sophie rode away on Arthur's horse; "We should go," he followed her with a look on disdain on his face; he wasn't most pleased by this arrangement. He figured Morgana had eventually asked Gwen because she felt that he should get to know her properly. She was convinced he would be her friend before long.

x

Hospital waiting rooms were officially dull. All the magazines were out of date. The papers consisted of The Sun and The Daily Mail and Arthur would rather read neither. Gwen had taken to staring at a spot on the ceiling and concentrating on it to the point where it had nearly disappeared because her vision had blurred. She had done very much the same last time she had been sat waiting in the hospital for a prolonged period of time. She kept replaying it all in her head.

The doctor had appeared in the corridor with a grim look on her face. She'd opened the conversation with an apology and that was all Gwen could remember. It hurt to know any more. Her father had had bad lungs for years. They had never suspected it was anything more than the amount of sawdust he must have inhaled on an average day at the work site. Turned out to be a lot more than that.

Gwen screwed her eyes shut to stop herself from crying. She didn't need Arthur asking her questions. She wouldn't be able to speak about it without crying. A year wasn't long enough to forget about it. She had nobody left. She didn't need him knowing that. She opened her eyes again and found her spot and stared at it with an increased intensity.

There was a poster opposite Arthur telling the public all about the dangers of Swine Flu and how you had to wash your hand after every little thing; touching your face; running your fingers through your hair; coughing; sneezing. It was like every news report they had had for the last few years. It was starting to grow old.

"Arthur Pendragon?" a nurse called; he pushed up from his seat and started to hobble forwards without his metal aids. He put some weight on his left foot but found it too difficult to walk in his cast. He grabbed at the crutches. He accidentally knocked one of them to the floor.

"I've got it," Gwen said, the kafuffle tearing her away from her spot on the ceiling. She bent to grab the crutch from the floor and handed it to him; "Do you want me to come in with you?"

"No," he snapped. Gwen shrank back into her chair.

"I'll wait here then," he didn't apologise; he just turned away from her and started to gently go up the corridor, following the greying nurse. Gwen crossed her legs and started bobbing her foot.

"Bit uptight, isn't he, love?" the lady who had been next to Arthur asked her over the chair between them, "Your boyfriend."

"Yeah," she didn't bother to argue that he wasn't anything to actually do with her. It would only pose more questions that she couldn't be bothered to answer or reason with herself right now, "He's fed up of hospitals. He's a sporty type, doesn't like not being able to do stuff."

"I understand. He shouldn't be so mean to you love."

"It's okay. I'm used to it," she realised that it really seemed like a bad relationship to be stuck in, even if it was a lie. He deserved to be mad at her, it was her fault that he couldn't live his life how he normally did, "He's not usually like this," she said, feeling the need to save his fake reputation a little, "It's just the hospital brings the worst out in him."

x

"All looks in order, Mr Pendragon. Everything has aligned properly, you'll be glad to know. The cast can come off but you'll have to wear the support still and use the crutches for about anther month, but you can start to use your foot again, build up the muscles."

"Okay," Arthur nodded, wanting very much to free his leg of the hard casing. He had had a permanent itch for the last four weeks and it wouldn't go away. He couldn't wait until he could attack it.

x

Arthur hobbled out of the room. He used his crutches to walk slowly back down the corridor towards Gwen. She had picked up a magazine in the time he had disappeared, but she looked equally as bored as she had when he had left her there.

"Good to go?" she asked trying her hardest to smile at him.

"Yeah," he kept walking past her; it would take him longer to walk to the car than it would her anyway. He wanted to build up the strength in his leg as quickly as possible; relying on the crutches to move him around wouldn't help.

"What did they say?" Gwen enquired, her jumper folded over her arm and her car keys in her hand ready to unlock it the second they got near.

"Not much," he grunted in response.

"Oh, only Morgana told me to tell her everything-"

"I can tell her myself," he said abruptly.

When they reached the car Arthur shoved his crutches into the back seat of Gwen's banger and slumped into the front seat, not being quite as careful about his leg as the doctors would have wanted.

He clenched his jaw as he slammed the door closed; he should have been nicer to her. She was doing him a favour. He looked over at her as she climbed into the driver's seat. He offered her a small smile, he had to start building a bridge, he decided. She'd built her half, it was time he met her in the middle.

x

The ride back to the Pendragon sibling's home had been a silent one. They didn't have anything to say to each other and with the knowledge that within the next month he'd be back riding without so little as a hint that he had ever been injured; he could no longer be angry with Gwen.

But he didn't have anything to say. He pretty much been nothing but rude and arrogant to her for the last six weeks; he couldn't just take that all back with the snap of his fingers.

She pulled up outside the gate and kept the engine running. She had no intention of staying longer than necessary. Gwen looked out of the opposite window and tapped on the steering wheel with the tips of her fingers.

Arthur cleared his throat, "Well, thanks."

"No worries," she half smiled at him and nodded once.

Arthur made to open the door but stopped before he clambered out of the car and looked at his driver, "I'm sorry for the way I've treated you."

"I ran you over and broke your leg. You've had every right to hate me."

"I don't hate you," he suddenly declared. Such an impression he had made. He didn't like it and he didn't approve of the man he had become around her. It wasn't fair. As much as he had believed it in the past he didn't believe it now. Why had he been acting like such an arsehole for the last six weeks?

"Yeah?" the disbelief in her voice wasn't a surprise, "You do a good job of showing it."

"I haven't been the most welcoming of people; true," he shifted in the passenger seat to look at her, "How about we start a fresh? Forget all of it. Start again?" He offered, it was the only thing he could do without ruining what dwindling friendship they had already. If they started again it would be easier for him to patch back together. Even if his attitude might have made that a difficult manoeuvre.

"I'd like that," she replied genuinely. She seemed open to new things and to forgiveness, which was good for Arthur. This wasn't likely to be the only mistake he made.

Arthur smiled. He fiddled with the hem of his shirt, "Right. Thanks." He pulled his crutches from the back seat and stood out of the car putting most of his right on his right leg. Before she could drive away he had started to walk (albeit slowly around the front of the car to the driver side window. He knocked on the glass.

Confused; Gwen hit the window down button and waited as the window scrolled down, "Hi?" her brow was knitted but she looked mildly amused.

"I'm Arthur; nice to meet you," he held his hand out through the window. She accepted it with a smile and firmly shook his hand.

"Guinevere, though most people call me Gwen."

"Well, Guine_vere_, it's nice to meet you."

"You too."

"I'll see you soon. Bye Guine_vere_," he gave a short wave and started off on his crutches again this time swinging quickly on his right foot so he got out of the road. He leant on his right crutch and waved with his left hand before she left.

Maybe he could make this work.


	3. Chapter 3

The summer sun beat down across the park. Children were laughing as they played in the park; their worries over for another six weeks. Gwen would have thought that given that she spent the rest of the year around kids she would want to avoid the park at all costs during the holidays, but it was a nice day out.

"It's not fair, you know," Merlin started as he licked the melting ice cream from the cone in his hand. He'd insisted after their jaunt around the park that he got an ice cream complete with a flake and now he was expertly working his way around it without getting it all around his chops.

"What's not fair?"

"You get six weeks off! Not only that, you get two weeks at Christmas. Two weeks at Easter and three random other weeks off a year! And you can't tell me you actually do anything on a 'Teaching Development Day'."

"Merlin, you are my dearest friend, that doesn't mean I won't resort to telling you that you chose the wrong career. If you want the time off, you should have become a teacher."

"Or an injured sportsman," Merlin said a little too brightly. Though Arthur was on his way back into sport he still wasn't allowed to compete. The doctors didn't want him to put too much strain on his leg at any one time.

"Or injured sportsman. Though I don't think he's enjoying it."

"No, but I'm sure he will," Merlin elbowed her in the side as they walked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Gwen hit him with the back of her hand as they walked. Merlin laughed into his ice cream; she knew.

"Morgana said that Arthur said that you two are starting afresh?" he said in one breath. He felt like he was twelve again and relaying some god forbidden argument between his friends.

"Yeah. It's nice," she admitted. Merlin raised an eyebrow, "When he doesn't hate me he's actually pleasant company."

"Oh yeah?" the sparkle in Merlin's eye made her hit him again. She poked her finger into his ice cream and stole some of it, licking it off of her finger.

"Stop it; or I'll start about Morgana."

"There is nothing going on between me and Morgana," he said licking his ice cream. The flake was threatening to fall out so he picked it out with his fingers and licked the ice cream off of the end.

"No Merlin, not at all," she swiped the chocolate from him and ran off a few paces in front and ate it. No qualms against his spit already being on it.

"There isn't!" he shouted as he swiped out at her to have a gander at getting his chocolate back.

"Sure," she said, teasingly eating the rest of the chocolate, "Come on; we're going to be late if we don't hurry up. I don't want to miss food service hours."

"Come on then. Sunday roast awaits us," he said cramming down on the ice cream in the cone, making his teeth hurt and giving himself brain freeze.

"But now there's an empty swing!" Gwen complained, pointing over to the park. It was getting late and the kids were starting to peel off back home; being forced away by their parents.

Merlin mock groaned and ran after her as she took off for the play area. Give it five minutes and they would be kicked out for being in the park with no children and playing on the equipment at twenty-four years old.

x

They sat around a table in the corner of the pub with an answer sheet in front of them, each answer so far filled. Morgana had taken charge of writing, her and Merlin answering most of the questions with the occasional input from Gwen and Arthur, but they seemed to have it down; "I said we should get a bigger team."

"And I didn't listen to you, yeah I know," he said before shushing her so he could hear the next question, "Oh come on, that's easy," he stole the pen off of Morgana and started to scribble; the other three lost on the science question. "Simple."

"If you say so," Morgana said reading back over the answer and raised her eyebrow, "Really simple."

"How many questions left?" Arthur asked, he sat relaxed back against the bench.

"About five or six. There're usually thirty. Then time to get a drink whilst they mark, then results."

"Right okay," Arthur sat with one hand around his drink he other tapping his knee. He'd never been to a pub quiz in his life, he didn't see himself as the sort. He hadn't seen Morgana as the sort either but here she was really getting into it.

"If you want to go you can," she said. He looked offended that she would even consider it, "Merlin will only keep the money for himself."

"No, I was just wondering how much of a chance there was that I might actually get a question to answer that none of you know the answer to."

"Fat chance of that," Morgana laughed.

"This is why we leave early sometimes, because we don't know any answers," Gwen turned sheepish and looked deep into her glass, "We left early the night we met."

"The night you ran me over," Arthur said as flippantly as he could manage, still bitter about the situation. He wanted this friendship to work and so far so good.

"Yeah. We literally had no answers after the first round so we decided to give up."

"Bit defeatist."

"We were never going to win."

"No?"

"Not a chance. The team over by the bar are awful cheats. They can see the answer sheet in the barman's hand."

"Why not sit there then?"

"Because they get shirty. They are the locals. It's their table and every Sunday they come in and if they aren't here they reserve it so when they come in they can sit there."

"So they can cheat?"

"Well yeah, otherwise it's not a great table to sit at. You get boshed about by the people going to and from the bar."

"Oh, okay. Just how often do you two come here?"

"It used to have student night. We came here a lot when we went to Uni."

"Ah. I never got the uni experience, I guess. Just rode horses all the time. Around in the sand; around the fields doing cross country; show jumping. I would have been a jockey but I grew too much," it was true, he was rather broad. Not that Gwen had spent the last half an hour inspecting what he looked like beneath his inappropriately tight white t-shirt.

"You missed out on debt and essays and student living and did I mention the debt?" Arthur laughed, "Besides, you were already doing something you love, what's the point in losing money when you could earn it?"

"Hey, hey, Gwen! Were you listening? Drama question!" Merlin sudden flailed an arm in her direction.

"Shakespeare question."

"What was it?"

"In which play is the line 'If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh?' Blah di blah."

"You don't know?"

"No. Now fess up."

"Merchant of Venice."

"You're sure?" she gave him a stony look, "okay," Merlin pointed to the slot, "Merchant of Venice," Morgana scribbled it down. Merlin reached over the table to high five Gwen, she hit his hand lamely, "That was rubbish."

"It's all you deserve."

"Cold."

"Learn Shakespeare."

"We're a team, you're meant to help."

"It was an easy question."

"Shush! I can't hear the questions," Morgana snapped. She was getting into it as much as Merlin did.

"Final question!" the barman announced, "How many states of matter are there and the tie break: name them."

"Pfft," he snatched the paper from beneath Morgana's arm and nicked the pen from her hand. He started to scribble down all of the 6 answers.

"Are you sure?"

He gave her an incredulous look, "Yes I'm sure."

"Positive."

"Morgana, I'm a scientist for a living, I think I know what I'm talking about."

"Okay," she relented, "If you're wrong-"

"He's not wrong," Gwen said plainly, she trusted her friend's knowledge and his competitive streak. She drank the remainder of her drink and relaxed back. The thing was over, she could now pay no attention not at all.

"Is he always like this?"

"Oh yeah," the barman came by and grabbed the paper from the table and carried on past to swipe the rest of the answer sheets from the competitors, "He's more fun when he loses."

"I bet."

"_When_ I lose?" Merlin asked, offended by such claims.

"My darling friend, you never win."

"That was before we had a _team_," Merlin hadn't wanted a team. He wanted to battle through and continue to lose on his own (with Gwen's help) rather than split the money between more people. Yet here he was using her own knowledge against her, "With Morgana and Arthur on my side, how can I lose?"

"Who said I was on your side?" Arthur asked. He was teasing, Gwen thought, but she could never be sure.

"You're here aren't you? That's you on my side."

"Right, I'm getting a drink, anybody want anything?"Gwen declared hitting her hand down on the tabletop lightly. She pushed to standing and looked across the table at the two black haired individuals.

"Yeah, I'll come give you a hand," Arthur said slowly standing with her and pushing back his seat with the backs of his legs.

She eyed his left leg, then his grey aids, "With your crutches?"

"I can hobble along without," he said as if it were the biggest feat of his life. A grin broke out across his face, "I don't particularly need them anymore," he said truthfully. He'd rather not use them at any point but he still found on occasion that his leg would ache if he walked on it too long. He was better off safe then sorry.

"Right, please be careful. I don't want you blaming me for injuring yourself again."

"Injuring myself? I didn't injure myself! _You _injured me!" he poked her in the back of the shoulder as they walked towards the bar. She looked back over her shoulder at him and smiled bashfully.

"Sorry."

"Bet you planned it!"

"Of course I did. I willed you with my magical powers to walk out in front of my car so I could run you over and have you hate me for two months. Yeah, it was a really good plan, wasn't it?"

"You like being treated badly?" he said, leaning against the bar net to where she stood waiting for custom. She raised an eyebrow at him, "Okay, no. Sorry."

"I'm sorry. You're sorry. I think we've established we're all sorry. So now can we not mention it again?"

A loud clanging of a spoon against a metal tankard sounded, drawing their attention away fro each other and towards the barman who'd been in charge of the quiz. He stood in the middle of the competing tables with the answer sheets in his hands, "Attention!

"The team in third place this week are 'Team Green', in second is 'Team Excalibur'," Gwen looked over to Merlin. He looked positively furious. They hadn't won. Gwen knew it. She said he shouldn't get so complacent about it, "And in first place and the winner of this week's pot is 'Team We Like Peas'."

"We like peas? Really?" Arthur laughed, he turned back towards Gwen, "How unbearable is he going to be?" he said nodding his head towards Merlin.

"He'll be annoyed and ranting for hours. You learn to tune him out."

"And you've had how many years practise at that?"

"Nearly eight?"

"Right."

"You'll get used to it. Now, what did you want to drink?" she leant on the bar in front of her and greeted the other barman with a smile and ordered her vodka, lemonade and lime.

x

The room smelt of worn leather in the summer haze. The man in the tack room zipped up his boots over his riding trousers. They were perfectly clean having only just been bought out of their box for the first time in ten weeks. Their owner brushed off the toes and turned his attention back to his top half. He made sure his t-shirt was untucked and tightened the Velcro on his gloves.

He grabbed his helmet and crop from the workbench by the door and exited. A bubble of excited rose through him; he hadn't been on a horse for so long; too long. This was going to be good fun. He hoped that riding a horse was like riding a bike. He'd heard it was, but he'd never been in the position to find out.

As he walked out into the yard he was greeted by his sister and his horse.

"Now that is a good sight to see," Morgana said truthfully, "I'd started to forget what it looked like," she grinned. She ran her hand under Camelot King's mane, "Be good for Daddy, CK. He's missed you."

Arthur didn't say anything as he approached. There was no sign of a limp on his left side for the first time since he'd been ridded of his crutches. He greeted his horse with a kiss on his nose and scratching him behind his ears.

"You ready for this?" Morgana asked him, her voice was full of genuine concern.

"I've never been more ready for this," he said putting his foot into the stirrup and pushing up, he swung his right leg over with practised ease. His left leg didn't even twinge in pain at the weight exerted on it, "So far so good," he rubbed the flat of his hand over CK's shoulder. He gripped the reigns properly and gently kicked him on into a walk, "It's good to be home," he said under his breath and headed straight for the paddock.

"Be careful!" Morgana shouted as he started to trot away from her. He waved a flippant hand at her. Nothing could hurt him up there. He'd never injured himself falling off before and he didn't intend on starting now.

Morgana leant on the fence watching as Arthur gently kicked the horse into a canter and started off in circles around the edge of the field. He came past Morgana, as he did he pad her no heed; he was off in his own world. She brought her phone out from her pocket and aimed it at him taking a few photos.

She sent the best of which straight to Gwen;

_He's fine. You didn't break him too much. Mx_

She hit send and grinned. This was where he belonged and they both knew it. Now he just had to get back into practise. It wouldn't be good for him to get straight back into competitions. He still had to build up the muscle in his leg again.

With the wind under his shirt as he sped up into a gallop down the long straight he stood in his stirrups and let CK go as fast as he wanted. He grinned as the horses pace increased. Forget the cosiest of rooms, or the most scenic of places, this was home to him. Any other place didn't feel right.

As the fence approached Arthur pulled CK back into a trot and rounded the corner, "How about some jumps, eh?" he said more for his own benefit. He directed CK towards the jumps and took the first one with ease, never losing his seat, "Good lad," he cooed, gently patting the side of his neck and rubbing it affectionately.

Morgana felt her phone vibrate in her hand. She looked down at the screen and burst out laughing;

_Damn. Can't even run over somebody correctly._

_ Glad he's okay. Xxx_

"I bet you are," Morgana smirked. She abandoned her phone back in her pocket. As much as Arthur could stay there all day, she had things to do and people to talk to and an argument to settle with their father.

X

In the scientists labs in the south of Bath one man sat – so desperately bored – that he had spent the last ten minutes throwing Skittles in the air trying to catch them in his mouth whilst sat on his wheely chair. He crashed into his own desk and fell forwards from his chair with a clatter.

A small burst of laughter sounded behind him.

"Freya! Hi," he scrambled to his feet.

"Hi."

"What can I do for you?" he asked gently. He bent to pick up the green bugger he had missed pre-embarrassing performance.

"I came to tell you that today is my last day," she said softly looking at her feet, "I got a job in London. They told me last week. I've not had much time to tell you. I've been looking for a flat and packing. They wanted me to start as soon as possible."

"Oh. Who for?"

"Still for Grant Tech, but in the London Labs."

"Oh right. Well, uh, good luck, I guess," he hugged her, "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too but we both know this was never going to work," his smile upturned slightly, but he knew what she was saying. The connection they had didn't reach that far, "You're a great guy, Merlin, but your heart isn't with me, is it?" she said honestly. She didn't look hurt, she looked happy. She was getting a new start in life and all she wanted was to see those she liked in her life get what they wanted, "It was worth a shot, but we're better off as friends. I'll email, I promise."

"I'm going to miss you Freya Lakes."

"I'll miss you too, Merlin Emrys," he kissed her on the cheek and hugged her to him again, "You are a good friend, the best I could ask for."

"No, I'm not. But thanks for saying it. Good luck. Don't leave tonight without saying good bye, okay?" she nodded in agreement, "Don't become a stranger."

"Don't leave her hanging. She likes you. You just have to go for it."

X

Merlin had never spent so much time hugging female company than he did that day. He had always been comfortable enough with Gwen to lie with her on a sofa and have her hug him as she rested on his - presumed uncomfortably hard - chest.

"It's for the best," he mumbled into her hair. He had her arms around her shoulder holding her body to his. He wanted the comfort and she could give it to him without being awkward, "Promise me that no matter how much we might grow as people, we won't grow apart."

"I promise," she gave him a light squeeze, "You don't have to worry, I'm not going anywhere."

"I liked her," Merlin admitted his other arm was back behind his head and he stared up at the ceiling. He sighed.

"But?" Gwen prompted. Merlin didn't comply, "But she's not Morgana?" she asked. She could feel Merlin nodding against the top of her curls, "you should tell her."

"I can't."

"Why not?" Gwen probed moving so she was looking down at him.

"The same reason you won't tell Arthur you think in his pants would be a nice place to be."

"Because she's an arrogant twat most of the time, with no respect for anyone but herself?"

Merlin grinned and laughed at her. She didn't deny it, but she also had a point; "Maybe not the same reason then. I notice you aren't saying no..."

"Shut up, Merlin. Stop deflecting. This isn't about me," she settle d her head back against his chest, "This is about you."

"Why can't girls be as easy as you?"

"Hey!" she hit him hard in the stomach. He flinched in automatic response. He laughed awkwardly, eventually it turned into giggles.

"I mean, easy to get along with. I can tell you anything. Why can't I be more eloquent with other people?"

"Because I'm like a bloke to you. My breasts mean nothing to you."

"That must be it. I have no desire to fondle your boobs, yet you make it so easy for me," he said jokingly moving his hand over her chest. She batted his hand away, "Oh but Gwen, you love me."

"Yes, I do. Very much, but you are never touching my chest."

"How else am I meant to learn?"

"From the internet like everybody else."

"Gwen! You disgust me."

X

The Pendragon Household had never been much of a bitter place as the children had grown up. They were a year and a half apart in age. Arthur the winter baby whilst Morgana was the summer child. The family had been most dysfunctional.

Morgana's mother, Vivienne, had died not long after she was born. She had been diagnosed with end stage cancer late into her pregnancy. She had forgone chemotherapy for her baby. She didn't want to harm her baby who had her whole life ahead of her when she was so close to the end without much chance of winning her battle. She'd given up her life for Morgana. As she'd grown up Morgana had never known – she would never have understood – but as she'd grown older Uther had sat her in the chair and told her everything. It was hard to miss something you had never known.

Arthur knew that.

Uther Pendragon didn't have much luck with his love life. He never got a happy story. Six months after his wife had died he'd meet Igraine Queen. They'd lived three months happily with each other. To begin with they were nothing more than lovers. She was the one Uther went to when he got too stressed.

Three months in that changed. He knew he loved her. Never more than he had loved Vivienne, but never less either. Two months later and she told him she was with child. It was never planned. Seven months after that and Igraine had died in childbirth. She'd lost blood faster than they could give it to her. There was nothing anybody could do.

For months Uther couldn't look at his son.

They had grown up together like any other brother and sister would. They argued. They played. They fought together against their father and played their fantasy games. Arthur the knight in shining armour with Morgana the witch, his deadliest enemy.

When Uther had explained to both of his children the circumstances of their births, he'd had to admit that they weren't of completely the same blood. It had affected the way they acted with each other for a month before they'd gone back to be the bickering siblings they had been before. It was all they'd known, solid fact wasn't about to change what they felt in both their hearts and their heads.

Whenever he introduced her to anyone she was 'My older sister, Morgana.'

Arthur was always her annoying younger brother.

The only time they ever used it against each other was when they were in a bad mood with the other.

Nobody would question their siblingship when they heard the way Arthur had been teasing her. He was relentless. Whenever he had anything on Morgana that he could use for such purposes he would and Morgana would in return.

"'It was nice to see you earlier. See you soon. Kiss. Kiss. Kiss.' Ooh, Morgana, what a romantic," he chided with her phone held above his head as he read from the screen.

"Give it _back_, Arthur!"

"I don't think so. It's too good," he flicked to the next message, "How quaint," the next again, "Now, Morgana. I would have thought better of you, you filthy being."

She kicked him hard in the shin – his _left _shin – making him drop the device straight into her hands as he clutched at his leg, "Bitch," he cried as he fell back onto the sofa, "That _fucking _hurt!"

"Then you shouldn't be such a child. Or would you like me to read your string of messages with Gwen?" she said swiping his phone from the end table before he could. She smirked and started to click through the menu, "'Oh Gwen. Hurt me again. I love it when you play rough.' Now who's the filthy one?"

"You made that up!"

"Doesn't mean you haven't sent it," she said with an evil flash in hr eye. She started a new message and started frantically typing as she ran away from Arthur and across the hallway to the downstairs bathroom.

"Morgana!" he ran after her. He was too late. She slammed the door as he'd come to the hallway and clicked the lock across before he could get to her, "Morgana!" He slapped his hand against the door continuously, "Give it back!"

"Apologise!"

"Morgana!"

"Say you're sorry and I won't press send."

"Fine! I'm sorry, now give me my sodding phone back."

"Oops, stupid touch screen. I didn't press that!" she shouted at the phone. She opened the door and looked at him with an apologetic expression on her face.

"You fucking bitch, Morgana," he declared as he grabbed his phone back from her. She cackled. He looked at the string of texts and poked Morgana hard in the arm when he saw that the last thing on the string was a message Gwen had sent him two days ago.

"Owh. You deserved that, twat."

"You deserved that, bitch."

"I didn't _send_ it. What do you take me for? It's totally true though."

"Perhaps I should draft a text to Merlin after all; 'Dearest Emrys; touch my sister and I'll serve your head to our father on a platter for brunch. All the best, Arthur.'"

X

Gwen pushed the trolley around in front of her. She weaved the young children who somehow seemed magnetized to her trolley's path. She'd nearly run over the same child five times, "I hate children. I hate children," she repeated to herself as she rounded an aisle.

"Not a very nice thing to say, Miss," she looked up to see Tom standing with a smile on his face with a woman who was clearly his mother.

"I hate _small_ children. I hate _small_ children," she said looking to him for approval.

"That's better. And another thing: Ready made tomato and basil pasta bake? You should know better."

"Like you know better, Thomas," his mother said with a smile on her face.

"It's for Tuesdays after staff meeting," Gwen defended, "Gwen," she introduced herself to the older woman, "Be nice or I'll mark you down," she remarked to the boy in her Year Thirteen class.

"I have every respect for you," he said with a wicked smile on his face, "All hail Miss Leodegrance, best teacher ever."

"You're the Drama teacher?"

"Guilty as charged."

"He never shuts up about you," Gwen looked up at him. His cheeks were blushing a rose colour. She smiled at him; he was one of her better students.

"Mum," he said in a warning tone.

"He's a good student," Gwen responded as she smiled at him, "I better go; I have ready meals to eat and coursework to mark."

"I knew it."

"What was that, Tom? 'D' you say?" she asked looking at her shoulder at him.

"I'm moving on. See you Friday, miss."

"Bye Tom," she waved and carried on into the bakery section of the store.

X

Five minutes later and she stood staring at the white wine on the shelf. She was debating sending a few extra pounds on a nicer bottle or going with the '3 4 £10' deal they had advertised. She grabbed a single bottle of Chardonnay and went to move off.

"I thought you had better taste than that," Gwen turned to see a familiar figure standing with a basket in one hand and a French stick in the other.

"It'll do. It's not like I have guests," she shrugged off the blonde's remark and put the bottle in her trolley. She didn't care for quality, she just wanted a nice warm feeling in her head as she spent her evening marking. Wasting her time away with the inane chore that seemed to take up more of her time than any other action. Including sleep.

"You lead a sad existence."

"Sadly most days I am without your stellar company."

"Just say you need me, Leodegrance, and I'll always be there," he winked and grabbed one of the more expensive bottles of wine. It was alright for some.

"I'd rather stick pins in my eyes," she replied jovially.

"That's a shame. Morgana's left me on my own tonight to go on a date with Merlin-"

"It's not a date-"

"-so I'm cooking for one. Could do it for two?"

"And have you charge me with your crutches, I don't think so."

"They took them away from me."

"That's a shame. Thanks for the offer but-"

"You've had a better one?" he said thumbing through some of the things in her trolley and raising an eyebrow at her. She pushed her trolley out of his grasp and looked at him sternly.

"In the form of five acts and beautifully poetic language, actually."

"You lost me at 'five'."

"Don't worry yourself. I have A-level coursework to mark," she said excusing herself.

"Over the summer?" he fell into sync beside her. She couldn't even shake hi off like she had Tom.

"It's the resubmitted pieces."

"Ah. The good old resubmit."

"It might be good for them but it's not good for me. More work? No thank you."

"I thought you liked your job?"

"I like the practical side of it."

"But not the theory?"

"Exactly."

"What about Newton's Theory?" Arthur asked her with a teasing smile on his lips. He cared little for science.

"Do _you _even know Newton's theories?"

"Do _you_?"

She contemplated reeling them off at him. She decided against it knowing one word would do to show her knowledge; "Merlin."

"Fine. You win. I'll leave you to your shopping and poor taste in wine."

"Not all of us are Olympians. We can't all afford to drink good wine every night. You know what I might not bother," she thrust the bottle back onto the shelf where she had taken it from with a huffed, "I might just drink tea!"

"How very stuffy, English librarian of you."

"Leave Buffy out of this," Gwen squinted. She was most certainly not a stuffy librarian. British, however, she was. She always would be. But she was far from stuffy and she resented the implication that she was.

"Oh, she knows," Arthur threw his head back in joy, "You just went up in my expectations."

"I didn't peg you for a Buffy geek."

"I didn't peg you for a masochist," he countered.

"Hey, what?" Gwen's jaw dropped. How could he just come out with that in the middle of the supermarket? There were kids around. And at least one of her students, "You're the masochist."

"Never said I wasn't," he left it at that. He winked at her and disappeared into the throng of children and adults that seemed to be loitering in the alcohol aisle. Gwen shook her head in disbelief. Defiantly she grabbed the 'bad' bottle of Chardonnay and shoved it back into her trolley. She felt satisfied.

X

_Night out. You and Merlin are invited.  
The boys are coming if that persuades  
you more than I can. See you tonight._

Gwen hadn't expected to have any plans. She'd even bought herself a _good_ bottle of wine to drink whilst marking the GCSE coursework drafts she had been given. She was young and in need of a good night out, she was hardy going to turn it down.

_Where are we meeting? Be great to  
see Gwaine and Lance again. They're  
Better company than you are, Grumpy. X_

She had a class of new year-sevens to teach now. She had to set a good example. She slipped her phone back into her desk draw and shut it away from view. New students were always fun to play with. You got to insert your authority before they realised in a few weeks that she was a complete push over. They were all still getting to know each other as well so it helped that she didn't look like a complete loser learning their names like she did with new year eight classes she got.

She walked into the corridor where all the students were lined up, noisily waiting to come in; "Aright!" she shouted at the top of her lungs. The girl in front of her continued to talk animatedly to the two behind her in the queue. Gwen placed her hand on top of her head and turned her around to face her with her finger to her lips. The girl blushed and immediately stopped talking, "Thank you. Right, when you come in I want you to put your belongings along this wall. Take your shoes off and sit in a circle in register order."

Gwen walked in and was followed by the chatty girl. She pointed to where she wanted them to place their things. She headed back into her office to grab her register and pen and other things she would need. She opened her draw and checked her phone.

_I am not grumpy. I'll uninvited you  
if you say that again. Rugby Club at  
7. Bring a jumper._

The rugby club? Really? She'd lived in Bath for a long time, shed never been to a rugby match, "There's a first time for everything," she said to herself. She discarded the device back in the draw without replying. She had a class to teach, authority to insert and young minds to meld.

"Right, my lovely people, I'm Miss Leodegrance. Every Friday morning for the next year you'll be in here with me. In a minute we're going to play a few name games," there were a few pumps fists. _Kids,_ Gwen thought, _they always like the games_, "both for my benefit and for yours. For a lot of you this is your first week with the others. So we're in the same boat."

She took the register and started putting names to faces. She started to pick out in her mind which of them would be trouble; she was usually right.

"Right okay. First game's first…"

X

"Is she coming?" Arthur shook his head at his friend in disbelief. He'd only just sent her the message after all. It wasn't like she was Superwoman.

"Honestly, she's teaching, she won't reply until lunch," Arthur said in her defence. His stomach grumbled at the idea. He'd been up early to go to the yard and put Camelot King through his paces. Morgana was still refusing to let him enter competitions.

"Well aren't you a creepy little stalker."

Arthur narrowed his eyes, "I asked Morgana."

"Yeah right, you creep," Gwaine laughed through a piece of Dairy ilk at his head. It dropped into Arthur's lap and he ate it, answering his stomach's call, "I can see you now if you ever get around her place in her draws smelling her things."

Arthur's brow knitted in disgust, "Grow up. If I'm smelling her things is because she's shoved them at me."

"So you've thought about it?" Gwaine dug with a twinkle in his eye.

"No," Arthur said bluntly. His friend waggled his eyebrows at him, "I haven't!"

"Never imagined what's beneath the clothes?" Arthur could see Gwaine's mind working overtime. She was a reserved person when it came to clothing, even if they went on a night out on the town. She went for legs rather than chest, which Arthur was thankful for in regards to his two best friends. She needed saving from them and her modesty did most of that for her, "Beneath those woman power shirts? OR," he said loudly making Arthur jump, "That really cute Bambi one. Seriously, mm."

"No," he said finally, "Learn to look up."

"I do. And I appreciate it. Then I look down and appreciate the rest too."

"And what about the inside?"

Gwaine snorted and grinned at his friend as he laughed, "You're a joker. Like that is _all_ you've ever thought about."

"Well, no-"

"Hah! I knew it!" he pointed at his friend accusingly and threw another piece of chocolate at his head. It rebounded off over the back of the sofa.

"Stop it! And I'm a bloke, of course I've thought about it."

"You just lied to me!"

"It was once and I was drunk," he'd convinced himself then that that was the only reason he'd think about her in that way at all. It had been four months but he was still a little bitter about her running him over. He convinced himself that he shouldn't think of her in any other way other than the woman he knew because she broke his leg and that didn't go past occasionally thinking that she might look a little bit hot naked.

"But you remember thinking it. Do you want to find out?"

"No. Now drop it. She'll reply when she replies," he stood up and journeyed behind the sofa to retrieve the square of chocolate before it melted into the rug or something else Morgana would hang him for.

x

Gwen clapped her hands loudly and raise her right arm in the air. Within ten seconds the class was silent with their hands up all looking at her, "Okay, great work today guys. Unfortunately it's time to go. For next week I'll try and learn some more of your names," she smiled and granted them permission to leave.

"Here," Ellis thrust a script at her. She barely even caught it before he let it go.

"What's this?"

"Christmas show," he said blankly looking less than impressed.

She squinted at the front and read the title, "Shakespeare 4 Kidz," she cringed, "Midsummer's Night Dream? Really Peter?"

"Yes."

"What happened to respecting the greats?"

"Well that's not what we're being told to do."

"Then we do '_Bugsy_ _Malone'_ or I don't know 'Oliver!'," she complained not even reading the script, the words 'original' and 'songs' should never adorn a Shakespeare play in her eyes.

"We can't. This is what the Head wants us to do with the young ones this term. I promise you get to pick next term for the older kids, okay?"

Gwen didn't even argue back. It was pointless, neither of them had power over what the Head wanted. Instead she cast the script onto the pile of papers on her desk. She'd read it over the weekend with the rest of the stuff. It was the start of term and she already had plenty to do.

She fished her phone out of her desk draw. She had three messages.

_Gwen, I demand an answer soon.  
Love you, Arthur x_

She raised an eyebrow and discarded the message noting the next one from him as well.

_That was Gwaine. Please ignore him.  
We'll see you tonight, hopefully._

The final message was from an unknown number.

_Arthur told me to take your number.  
I don't think he appreciates me telling you  
The truth from his phone. Gwaine x  
_

She smiled. Typical of him. She saved his number as a new contact before she started her replying spree.

_Damn. I was about to say I love you too.  
I'll see you later. Never been to a rugby match  
before. I know. Failure of a Bath resident,  
right? Xxx_

Send.

_Hey Gwaine. I'm sure he needs your help.  
See you tonight? Gwen_

She slumped back into her chair and placed her phone on the desktop.

"You seem awfully chipper," Ellis stated looking up from his computer screen to her. He'd been struggling with making a poster advertising for the auditions of the winter play. I would take him hours yet, but he refused to ask Gwen for help. One day he would be fluent with computers, he'd told her. One day that wasn't soon.

"Good class," she said, it was partly true. They were a good bunch of kids and for once she had been wrong. None of them, as yet, had tried to make her life hell. Give it a month or so for them to settle in and there would be gum in her hair and ripped pages of scripts on the floor.

"With year sevens? Who are you and where did the sane Gwen go?"

"They aren't that bad."

"They are annoying and untalented and in need of severe shaping."

"That's what we're here for," sometimes she didn't understand why Peter Ellis was a teacher. He hated young kids. He hated people who couldn't act more and sadly that was the majority. He didn't like having to work too hard on tuning their artistic flow into a dramatic output.

"Then they make us go and do this shit? How are we meant to teach them about good drama if we can't do good plays?"

"You're the Head of Department, Peter. Tell him you don't want to do it and give him a selection to choose from."

"I'm on a fine line with my 'outrageous ideas' as it is, Gwen. One more time and he'll be looking for a ground for dismissal."

"Then ride it and stop complaining," she plugged her iPod into the speaker that the pair of them had bought last term so they could have small parties when they got bored, "Now, would you like to be treated to Take That, or have your own choice?"

"Anything but Take That."

"Robbie Williams it is," she said grinning evilly. Ellis groaned, "I'm joking. I'm joking," she said, selecting a random artist from the list without looking, "Sort of."

X

Standing outside of the entrance to the rugby ground, Gwen sunk her head into her scarf and tried not to shiver. It was cold for September. Merlin stood next to her in a thinner jacket and seemed perfectly comfortable. Gwen rubbed her bare hands over her arms and wished that she'd found her gloves before leaving her flat. It was quarter to seven; she would have had time.

She spotted Arthur with his familiar blonde wash of hair in his usual jacket. Gwaine was next to him with his rugby shirt on, in support of the home team Gwen imagined. Morgana was next to the looking just as cold as Gwen felt, she wasn't wearing a coat and she had a knee length skirt on, "Morgana is officially insane."

"Looks good though."

"Tell her that then, 'Hey Morgana. You're mental, but you're hot'."

"Very funny."

"Tell her."

"No."

"Spoilsport," she muttered into her scarf as the group had arrived, "You never said it would be this cold," she complained directly to Arthur who seemed, like Merlin, to be perfectly happy wearing not a lot.

"I said wrap up."

"You said bring a jumper! This isn't jumper weather."

He laughed, "Come on. Lance will already be in there. We'll meet him afterwards."

"Okay?" she looked at him through squinted eyes. She obviously had never asked Lance that much about his life down here at the Rugby Club. He wasn't very forthcoming with the information that was for sure.

"You'll see," he led them in, flashing some sort of pass at the bloke on the door. They went up a staircase that led into a bar that overlooked the pitch, "Drinks?"

"Will I be judged if I get a coffee?" she asked as she rubbed her hands over her arms in attempt to warm up. The friction warmed her hands but failed at warming her arms much at all. Arthur smiled and reached out to assist in rubbing her arm single-handedly to try and war her up.

"Not at all," he ordered himself a pint and a flat white coffee for Gwen. The others piped up their orders and gradually they were presented with their drinks, "Cheers mate."

"Any time, Arthur," the barman replied taking his twenty-pound note and handing back his change.

"He knows you?" She hadn't met many people that could identify Arthur; even with his Olympian status. Most of the time people just stared at her or asked if he was the bloke from that new BBC drama. She'd given up trying to explain who he was. She had never tried telling them how they'd met. That would be a question for the Emrys Grandchildren; 'How I met your mother?' Merlin would say, 'Aunty Gwen ran over her brother.'

"We come here a lot," Arthur broke Gwen was her small day dream and handed her coffee cup to her.

"Right, okay."

"Come on, the match will start soon," he guided her out through a pair of double doors. The other three followed dutifully, "Through there," he pointed into one of the boxes, "less breezy in here."

"Still not jumper weather," Gwen grumbled cupping her coffee in her hands. It hurt slightly to have something so hot against her hands when they were so cold, but in time her hands would warm up.

"Cheer up. It might never happen," he prodded with a wicked grin on his face.

"I hate that saying. Why is that meant to make me happy?"

"Because the shit might never happen."

"Well the good stuff might not either," she caught his eye for a second before quickly looking away and down onto the pitch. She noticed the players stretching to one side in their tracksuits. They stripped themselves into their shorts and long sleeved rugby tops. Gwen visibly shivered, "I don't want to be them."

"No?"

"Too cold."

"Tell that to Lance," Arthur pointed down to the pitch at one of the men stood in the white kit.

"Is that? Oh my god," an amused grin broke out on her face as she noticed their friend standing down on the edge of the pitch.

"That's why we come here a lot."

"He never said."

"You never asked. Not directly."

"I asked him what he did!"

"He told you he worked here," Arthur shrugged, he could understand his friend's want to remain a little less than anonymous. Within the city he would occasionally get mobbed by the young fans of the team and he liked to remain in the background, "He just didn't specify and then Gwaine swooped you up before Lance could stun you with his macho rugby player ways."

"Much more manly than riding horses, eh Gwen?" Gwaine interjected having overheard their conversation. He took the seat next to her putting her between the pair of best friends.

"You _can_ make better innuendos about riding though."

"True. Like if there was a horse called Gwen, he could said 'I rode Gwen last night' and we'd all think-"

"Yes, thank you, Gwaine," Arthur cut him off. If looks could kill Gwaine would be a goner.

"Just saying."

"Thus proving my point," Gwen mused. She elbowed Arthur in the side, "Cheer up. It might never happen," he raised an eyebrow at her.

"Just what are you implying Miss Leodegrance?"

"That's up to you," she suggestively waggled her eyebrows before bursting into laughter. Gwaine found it most amusing too, high-fiving her.

X

Merlin and Morgana sat on the other end of the row, both in silence subconsciously rubbing their arms against the cold, "Do you think they get it yet?" Merlin asked Morgana looking over at the back of his best friend's head as she laughed at whatever it was Arthur had just said.

"Probably not. Arthur's slow on the up take. Even with Gwaine giving helpful hints every time he can."

"What about us?" Merlin said quietly, "Are we slow on the uptake too?" Morgana looked up from her drink, staring at him quite intently. Slowly she transferred her drink from her left hand to her right and took Merlin's hand from where it had been between his thighs keeping warm. She latched her fingers through his with a small smile on her face.

"Maybe just a little."

X

Despite having little idea for what was going on Gwen found herself having a good time. She cheered and eventually she warmed up. Lance didn't get to play until late on in the second half but once he was on pitch he clicked into action scoring a try within the first minute on pitch.

He had the ball again and was running down the side of the pitch towards the try line when a player took him sideways and he went flying over the edge of the pitch and landed. He'd managed t throw the ball back towards on of his team mates, but both he and the man who had tackled him ended up in a mini heap.

"Shit," Gwen exclaimed covering her mouth with her hand, "Is he okay?"

"He'll be fine," Gwaine replied, "See, already on his feet," they all watched their friend topple back over again, "Or not."

"You sure he's okay?" Gwen asked looking worried.

"Look like he's got hold of his ankle," Merlin said looking down. For the first time since they arrived Gwen looked over at him. She noticed the arm he had around Morgana's shoulder, however casually.

"He's up," Gwaine said in running commentary, "He's jumping annnnnd he's fine. Back on he goes."

They all visibly relaxed. Gwen looked back to Merlin and watched him run his hand up Morgana's arm. On the way his fingers managed to find a section of her hair and started to gently fiddle with it subconsciously.

Gwen gently elbowed Arthur and discreetly pointed down towards them. He smirked and looked back to the game completely unsurprised.

"How long left?" Gwen asked.

Arthur checked his watch, "'Bout five minutes."

"Okay, and who's winning," she laughed at herself. She had no idea.

"We are."

"Oh; good."

"Celebratory drinks on Lance afterwards," Gwaine gleefully clapped his hands together; he'd do anything for a free drink.

"It's not over yet," Morgana said pointing towards the man who had tackled Lance running up the pitch with the ball in his hands. They all cheered a little too much when one of Lance's team mates brought him down to the grass and the ball got passed off to somebody on their team.

The final whistle blew. The home team erupted into cheers, congratulating each other and the home crowd –a definitely majority – all burst into a wave of woops and whistles. Merlin gave his trademark two fingered whistled and cheered with the rest of them, having extracted his arm from around Morgana to do so.

X

They ended up in the members bar with the rest of the team and a number of drinks they hadn't paid for. Gwen had ended up speaking to a number of the team without rally knowing who any of them were which they all seemed to find rather refreshing.

"Good match to start you on," one guy had said to her.

"You're one of Arthur's friends? He knows the best people," one, rather drunk man, had told her. He had his arm around her shoulders and his face a little too close for comfort.

"Do you think they'll notice if we steal you?" she had declined their request, untagled herself from his clutches and made her way back to the table that her friend were sitting around.

"Making new friends?" Merlin smiled. To Gwen's surprise he was sat the opposite end of the table to Morgana with a spare seat next to him for Gwen to steal.

"Yeah. I have no idea what any of their names are."

"Me either," Morgana said honestly, "I only come because the guys drag me."

"You love it," Arthur retorted.

"Watching Lancey-boy running around in tight shorts makes my life complete," she pressed a joking kiss to his cheek. Lance pulled away from her and wiped the red lipstick from his cheek. Morgana winked at Merlin who started to burn the same colour as her lips.

"Definitely a highlight for me too," Gwaine said drunk and repeated Morgana's action from Lance's other side.

"You people are crazy and embarrassing," the team member spoke up taking a long swig from his rapidly emptying drink.

"Awh, but we love you," Gwaine ruffled his already messy hair and downed the rest of his pint, "Next round is on you, mate."

"So we're the last three."

"You get free drinks, we don't."

Lance sighed and stood. He grabbed the few littered empty glasses, "Anybody else?" Nobody else piped up or shook their heads. They were fine, "Okay, one Guinness for my friend coming up."

"Morgana we should head," Arthur stated looking at his watch, "Early start tomorrow."

"We're off to see the wizard," she replied looking to Merlin and Gwen and rolling her eyes, "Hooray."

"We'll go with you. Out of here, I mean," Merlin declared looking at Gwen. She felt like she couldn't disagree and stood to leave too.

"Boring!" Gwaine declared from his seat and swiped Arthur's half full glass with a thumbs up, "Cheers."

X

Gwen and Arthur dropped back from Morgana and Merlin once they reached the outside. They were all walking back, not living particularly far. Gwen shivered, soon regretting her decision and pulled her coat tighter around her, "Will they?" she asked him staring at the back of their heads.

"Not if you keep staring like that," he jibed.

"Well what else am I meant to do?"

"I don't know? Stargaze?" he said and pointed up and the clear night sky, "It's all kinds of beautiful."

"Nicer from the yard," Gwen stated matter-of-factly.

"How do you know?" Arthur asked looking down at her confused. As far as he was aware she had only been there once and that was during the daytime months ago.

"Out of the city, away from the lights. It always looks better then," she'd been camping many-a-time in the New Forest with her father when she was younger. Her mother had hated it, so they'd gone alone. They would set up a tent on one of the campsites and spend their days walking around through the woodlands and spend their nights lying out on a blanket looking up at the stars. It was the only time in Gwen's life when she had felt truly free or all of the daily pressures.

"Well maybe one day we should test the theory," Gwen smiled and nodded in agreement as she pinpointed the only constellations she knew, "My other was correct," he said and motioned towards his sister and Merlin. The latter was currently stooped an inch to kiss his counterpart, "Ewh, that's my sister. I don't need to see this," Gwen reached up and placed her hand over his eyes, "Yeah, thanks. That makes it all better."

"I thought it might."

"Have they finished yet?" Gwen removed her hand to show him. He groaned and put her hand back over them. He held her hand firmly in place.

"You could just turn around," she suggested her arm starting to ache from the lack of blood pumping around it.

"Yeah," he said turning away from her hands and facing back the way they'd come, "And your hands are cold."

"Sor-ry," Arthur grinned and gently rubbing her hands between his, his back now to Merlin and Morgana. Gwen shivered. She'd rather head to her nice warm flat but she didn't want to interrupt her friends by walking by. Give it another minute though and she might be forced to. She looked down to her hands, Arthur's still encased them but he had stopped moving them. The friction between them previously had warmed them substantially and now his warm fingers were still keeping hers warm, "Thanks."

"No worries," he grinned. He shot a look over his shoulder, "I'm going now!" he shouted and dug his hand into his pocket for his car keys, "Move it or lose it!" he turned back to Gwen, "See you soon, yeah?"

"Yeah, pub quiz Sunday. Merlin says he has a good feeling about this week."

"I bet he did."

X

Merlin sat flicking through a magazine in the small staff canteen that adorned the first floor of his lab. He had a Crunchie in his hand as he fingered through it. He came across an out-of-date article he had read before about the CERN project in Geneva, "Never ended the world, did it?" he grumbled and turned the page angrily.

"They're saving that for 2012," somebody said from the doorway behind him,

"That's bullshit too," he snapped back and looked over his shoulder to see Morgana standing in the doorway with a visitor ID attached to the lapel of her jacket, "Hi."

"Hey," Merlin replied slightly startled by the appearance of his – he didn't know what. She pushed off and crossed the room to him.

"You alright?" she asked.

"I'm fine. You?"

"Yeah, better now."

"Small talk over?"

"Yeah."

"Merlin-"

"Morgana-"

They both laughed awkwardly, "Go ahead," the scientist offered.

"Last night," Morgana started. She slipped into the chair opposite Merlin and crossed her leg over her knee, "last night was the best I've felt for a long time. After the way things ended with Al- you've been so brilliant with me and with Arthur and everything that has happened."

Merlin inwardly cringed. He'd heard speeches like this before. Generally they were followed by the words 'geek' or 'nerd' and a number of insults on his intelligence, "If this is your way of telling me not to get my hopes up then I understand completely."

"No!" she said suddenly, "No. I just- could we take it back a notch? Once Arthur starts competing again I'm not going to be around and that's not fair on you."

"I know that. I can deal with that."

"I know you won't, but after the way Al managed to end things, I don't want to fall for another wanker."

"Thanks," Merlin said looking a cross between bemused and hurt.

"I don't mean it like that. I know you wouldn't ever. But-"

"But there's still that niggling feeling inside of you that says that I might."

"Yeah."

"I accept that," he said reaching out and resting his hand on hers on top of the table they were sat next to, "How about a coffee in Costa once I'm finished tonight?"

"I'd like that," Merlin rose out of his seat, throwing the magazine onto the table and leant towards her and placed a light kiss on her forehead.

"Too much?" he asked with a light smile on his face but with worry in his eyes.

Morgana shook her head, "Just right."


	4. Chapter 4

Ringing roused Gwen from her bath. Her mobile phone was flashing next to the cold tap. She groaned, she was relaxed and comfy and incredibly wet. The ringing was insistent. After a good half a minute she gave in on any idea she had about having a relaxing bath before bed and grabbed for her phone with her dripping hand, "Hello?"

"Guinevere?"

"Arthur?" she climbed out of the bath. She couldn't talk to him and be completely naked at the same time. Something about it seemed wrong to her, "What can I do for you?" she asked pulling a towel from the radiator and wrapping it around her torso, holding it together with an arm across her ribs.

"Can you come to the yard?"

"Uh, yeah?" she said looking around at her discarded clothes and thinking about how long it would take her to dry herself and get to the place at such a late time. "Why?"

"Just get here ASAP?"

"You're worrying me," she grabbed the hand towel from the circular hold and started to scrub it over her legs and feet.

"Don't. Everything's fine."

She stopped, "You're sure?"

"I have all my limbs and CK is fine," she heard rustling on the other end, "See. That was him saying hi, by the way."

"Right okay," she looked down at herself and wondered why in this moment of madness she was contemplating agreeing with this request. She scratched her forehead with her thumbnail and sighed, "I'll be there in twenty minutes, okay?"

"Bring your coat."

X

Gwen pulled up in the small car park and shut off the engine and lights of her old car. It was pitch black in the car park. She had gathered it was sub-zero temperature outside from her short trip from the front of her building and to her car. She was bundled in several layers including a jacket beneath her coat and two scarves. The moonlight cast shadows across the fields. It was then she caught a glimpse of a silhouette.

She climbed out of her car the cold winter air attacking her bare features instantly and quietly shut the door; it was late and she didn't know if the occupants of the farmhouse would sleeping, "Arthur?" she called out, her voice low.

"You came," he turned and smiled at her. She pulled her coat around her wishing she was back in her bath with the warmth of it hugging her body.

"How could I not? It's not everyday somebody calls you at ten o'clock at night – when you are in the bath, no less - and asks you to meet them somewhere."

"You were in the bath?" Gwen doesn't know if his expression is him contemplating what the image would look like of her scrambling around in her natural glory for her phone or him feeling no remorse of dragging her out of it. She feared it might be a little of both. He discarded the thought after a moment after lingering on it too long, "Well, it's pretty cold. After the other night I didn't think you'd come out into the cold."

Gwen laughed and pushed one hand into her pocket, from it she produced a small bundled, "I came prepared," she pulled the bundled apart to reveal a pair of 'one size fits all' gloves. She pulled them on and pushed her hands back into her pockets, "What are we doing here?"

Arthur didn't answer right away. He ran his tongue over his teeth and clicked his tongue, "Come with me," he guided her along the fence towards the gate. He opened it and held it for her.

She hesitated, "Are we allowed in here?"

"I'm in here all the time."

"I mean at this time of night?"

"I don't see why not? Besides, I asked Sophie earlier and she said she'd tell her parents so they didn't call the police on intruders."

"So you planned this?"

"I might have done," he was coy. She had been pulled out of a relaxing bath to be hit on? She smiled at him. He took her hand and led her through the gate. She felt the need to spin under his arm when he lifting her hand above their heads. She nearly refrained but she had to move under their arms so he could lock the gate again behind them. They both laughed. He let her hand go once she'd spun away from him; it was awkward for him to hold on any longer both for mental and physical comfort.

Gwen put her hands back in her coat pockets as they wondered towards the centre of the field. The flag points were still up from Arthur's practise during the day.

"What are we doing?"

"Here," he had taken her to the centre of the field, "You said something about the stars in the city not being as bright as they are out here. So I thought I'd prove you right," a grin broke out on Gwen's face. She'd never imagined that anybody was listening to her. Now she was reliving her childhood. Not that Arthur knew that.

Gwen looked up and, as she'd said, the stars above her were brighter than she'd ever seen them. She didn't know quite what to say, "Arthur…"

"I know," he interrupted, "I'm amazing."

"You made me drive out here, out of my bath, at ten o'clock, to star gaze?" she asked with a casual mocking her voice. Though she'd rather have her bath the thought of stargazing with Arthur wasn't one that filled her with complete dread.

"Yeah?"

"You're insane," she said truthfully with a hint of laughter in her voice.

"I'm happy being insane."

"Good for you."

"I have this feeling," he said suddenly.

"Sounds ominous."

"Very funny. I have a feeling that you are good with stars and things. You pointed them out to me before."

"The only ones I knew," she said amused.

"Then we can make up new ones," he looked up and searched for a cluster of dots he could rename, "There!" he pointed. He pulled Gwen to stand in front of him so she could follow his line, "Ready?" she nodded. He traced a line down diagonally. He brought his other hand up to hold the point before he moved off to trace another line down. From his original stopping point he traced onwards.

"No, you've lost me."

"I'm calling it 'The Knight'. That bit is the lance. There is the knight and there is the horse."

"Okay. My turn?"

"Your turn," Gwen looked up at the stars. She searched. It was hard. There were so many she could see that making a clear image was hard. She finally settled on a picture with a small grin on her face.

"There," she pointed. Arthur crouched so he could follow her finger as she traced her picture.

"Some sort of deranged rabbit?"

"How did you know?" she laughed elbowing him in the ribs, "No," she traced it again, "Use your imagination."

"Merlin!"

"No."

"It's a dragon," he said softly into her ear, "and if you look next to it, there's a pen," Gwen snorted a laugh and leant back into Arthur's chest. On instinct he wrapped his arms around her waist. Gwen rested her hand over his and smiled.

"That was terrible," she said looking up sideways at him.

"But you still laughed," he argued back. He looked down at her, a lot closer to her than he had anticipated. The corner of his moth tugged into an awkward smile. He swallowed, "Come on. It's cold."

"That's it?"

"I have a blanket in the boot of my car," he reasoned, "We'll be warmer there," he released her from his grasp and started to walk back towards the gate.

i_I was warmer then…/i_

She submitted and followed him back towards the car; i_Don't do this to yourself, Gwen. He's not interested. And you shouldn't be either./i_

X

Whoever was knocking on her door at eleven at night was going to be punched or have it slammed back in their face or both. Most likely.

Arthur was either in bed or still not back yet and considering the porch light was still on she assumed it was the latter. It wouldn't be him; he knew where the spare key was to let himself in. Morgana could see her annoyance through the window in the door. Her jaw dropped.

"What do you want? I was sleeping."

"Mor-ga-na!"

"I'll say it again, what are you doing here?"

"I came to see you," he reached out slipping his hand into her hair, "I've missed you," she could smell the alcohol on his breath.

She pulled her head away from him and pushed him back; hard, "Get the hell away from me," Al stumbled out of the doorway and onto the driveway, "Who do you think you are? You can't just turn up here. Time to leave."

"I don't want to leave. I want to stay here with you," he scrambled towards the door reaching out for her, "I love you."

"Yeah, so much to slept with somebody else!" she would have pushed him back again but instead she swiped out at him and pelted him hard around the face with the flat of her hand, "Just go. Fuck off!"

She slammed the door in his face.

Slowly, Morgana made her way to the stairs and sat down on the bottom step. Al was still knocking on the other side of the door. Ignoring him, she hoped, would make him go away. He was shouting at her through the letter box. Morgana clamped her hands over her ears in attempt to ignore him.

After five minutes her gave up hope.

After another five minutes later and the front door opened. Arthur came in with a smile on his face. He hadn't seen Morgana initially too caught up in himself to see her sitting at the bottom of the stairs with her head in her hands.

It wasn't until she sniffed that he noticed her.

"Morgana?"

"Nice night?" she said wiping the tear tracks fro her face and smiling up at him as convincingly as she could.

"What's wrong?" he asked straight away.

"Nothing."

"What did Merlin do?"

"Nothing."

"Morgana," he said with warning in his tone, "Tell me," he sat down on the step next to her and looped his arm around her shoulder. He gently rubbed small circles into her arm in attempt to soothe her.

"Al came over. He was drunk."

"You let him in?"

"No, but he wouldn't leave," she shook her head and tried to fight back the tears. "I hate feeling like this. I want to be happy, to move on. But," she sniffed. Her breathe caught in her throat and she coughed, "he makes it so hard."

"Because he's a wanker. You deserve better than him. You always did."

"But he's still able to influence my life."

"Then cut him out. Replace him."

"I'm not making him the rebound, Arthur, that's not fair on either of us."

"Merlin?" Arthur asked only to confirm that his current thoughts were correct, "I thought you were already together? Ish?"

"Ish. I can't do it. I love him but- but I can't move into anything with him if Al still has the power to make me feel like this," Arthur hugged her into his chest and kissed the top of her head.

He gently soothed her, "It's okay. He'll wait for you. He'll wait until you're ready."

X

Merlin walked around his office with his phone to his ear and a grin on his face, "He did what?"

"He called me and made me go to the yard. I thought he'd hurt himself or something so I went."

"Out of your bath?" Merlin laughed.

"Yeah," she laughed down the phone. Merlin could see her now hitting herself in the forehead, "When I got there he was all mysterious and took me into the middle of the field."

"Creeper alert. Creeper alert."

"Very funny. He'd taken something I'd said and acted on it. It was i_nice/i_."

"And then what?" Merlin asked her. He left like one of those gossip girls who just wanted to know everything that everyone had said so he could go and spread it around everywhere.

"Well it was freezing so we ended up in his car-"

"You didn't!" his jaw dropped. He had expected more of her than to sleep with a guy she had hated not long ago in the back of his car.

"No, Merlin, Christ. Head out of the gutter i_please/i_."

"Sorry."

"No. We ended up talking for ages. We were sat in the back of his jeep thing with the back door open wrapped in this blanket all warm and cosy. Just i_talking/i_."

"How romantic," Merlin said deadpan.

"It was one of the best nights out I've had in a while."

"Now I'm hurt."

She ignored him, "Five months ago I never even dreamt of thinking anything like this."

"What have I been telling you? You really should start to listen to Uncle Merlin, Gwenkins," he loved it when he was right. So it might have taken a bit of convincing from Morgana for him to realise it, but it really did make sense, "Did anything happen?"

"No. Well, nearly, but no."

"What have we got to do with you? Put you in Seven Minutes of Heaven or something?"

"What?"

"I've been watching too much American TV. Ignore me."

"Gladly."

"Seriously. Just go for it. I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

"Then I'm positive you've lost it. We were going to- and he walked away. Not me."

"Maybe he thinks you don't want it."

"Maybe. Well, we'll never know. I'm not throwing myself at him; not a chance."

"Gwen-"

"If he's not interested I'm not making a fool out of myself for nothing. He's got to make the first move," Merlin sighed in annoyance at his friend and started to explain the inner workings of every guy's mind to his best friend.

Sometimes it wasn't just him that needed the advice.

X

There was a loud knock on her front door that roused Gwen from her RSC adaptation-a-thon as she graded the Year 11s second drafts of their coursework all about Blue Remembered Hills. They'd spent the week acting out scenes from it and over this weekend they would be writing about that. Now she was reading about the character analysis.

Each piece was the same.

The knocking was a welcome break.

Dressed in joggers and a loose t-shirt Gwen made her way to her front door. She pulled it open half expecting one of her neighbours or Merlin.

It was neither, "Arthur?"

"Hi, sorry am I interrupting anything?"

"Only the third act of King Lear."

"Oh," he looked torn between thinking he was interrupting too much and running back to his car and asking if he could actually come into her house with whatever it was that he wanted.

Gwen laughed, "Come on in," she pushed the door open and led him in.

Arthur looked around. Taking in the new surrounding. He smiled as he spotted the number of pictures frames on the wall above the television. There were a number of her and Merlin. One of her and an older man that Arthur assumed was her father, "Nice place."

"Small place."

"It's homely. It's very," he looked around, "It's very yoooou," he declared.

"Is that actually a compliment?"

"Of course it is. It's quirky. I like it," he fiddled with his hoodie zip and continued to look around. He didn't know whether to sit or stay standing.

"Is there a reason you're here?" Gwen asked hitting the kettle on.

"Yes! You forgot your jacket," he produced it from the satchel he had thrown over his shoulder and presented it to her also like a proud spaniel giving his owner a stick, "You left it in the back of my car the other night."

"Oh, I'd wondered where that'd gone."

"I saw it when I left the yard earlier, so I thought I'd drop it over on my way past."

"Your way past?" she asked with a furrowed brow, "I live further away from the yard than you do."

"Figuratively speaking. I was in the car, I might as well drop it in whilst I remembered. Can't have you getting cold now can we?"

Gwen didn't mention that she did have other coats, many of them in fact, "Thanks."

"No worries."

"Tea?" she asked at the kettle popped. She had her mug on the counter already with a tea bag in it waiting to be filled.

"I don't want to get in the way."

"You won't," she said grabbing another mug without an argument from him. She threw a teabag in it and started to fill both cups with hot water, "I'm only marking the same thing over and over. Somebody needs to give those kids some individual i_flare/i_."

"Isn't that what you do?"

"So far it's not being so successful," she poured milk into each cup and started to stir them.

"Ah. Well maybe you need to do some sort of session. A game or something. Make them all come up with a word of their own," he said looking at one of the pieces of paper that had been abandoned on half of the sofa. He looked at the titles of the coursework and quickly through it back down again.

"Do you even know what their coursework is about?"

"Not a clue, but it's a good place to start if you want individuality?"

"Duly noted," she replied as she picked the teabags out of the cups, "Sugar?"

"No thanks."

"Here," she handed him a plain black mug and sat down on the sofa where she had stated to create some sort of nest.

"Cheers. So what is their coursework?"

"You really want to know?"

"You take an interest in what I do. Time I returned the favour."

"Yeah, but what you do is interesting. Mine's not."

"What's their coursework?" he asked again this time with a harder tone to his voice. Gwen relented and started to explain it to him as she curled into the edge of the sofa. She moved the pile to the coffee table to let him sit down next to her so he could look at what she'd been presented with, "So if they were a little more incentive it would give them higher marks and you less of a boredom headache?"

"Yeah."

"I stand by what I said before. Get them all to come up with something. Or in a pair or i_something/i_ and that way you get a more varied response."

"I'll do that then," she replaced the piece of coursework she had in her hand to the top of the pile and left it. There was no point marking more when she was writing the same damned thing on each one.

Gwen grabbed the DVD remote and pressed the play button. She turned back to Arthur; it could play on in the background, it wasn't as if she hadn't seen it before and needed to follow every word, "I never thanked you for the other night.

"What, for disturbing your bath?"

"Yeah," Gwen grinned at him, "Seriously. I had a good time. Even if it was cold."

"Wasn't too bad, was it?"

"No. Not too bad. At least this time I actually ended up stripping a layer."

"I thought that was all to rouse my attention."

"Might have been," she waggled her eyebrows and started to laugh. She had hardly been wearing the best 'look at me' clothes. She'd been in so many layers that even the thought of a low cut top had been laughable. She was cold and in scarves and jumpers, "seriously, I had fun."

"Yeah, me too."

X

There was always something Merlin didn't understand when it came to his friends and that was there inability to see what was right before their eyes. Why couldn't the world be black and white sometimes? Everybody told him that by thinking that it made him naïve. As far as he was aware or care to be aware of, the world could be pretty simple and almost everything boiled down to one of three things; money, work or sex. Sometimes it would fit into all three and it was those things he tried his hardest to avoid.

Those things were the ones that got messiest.

He could understand taking things slowly. Morgana had issues she needed to work through and there was only so much help that Merlin could give her. Some of it she had to do on her own and other parts she had to do with Arthur's help.

There was honesty with Morgana that Merlin didn't have with anyone else. Sure, he had an unspoken policy with Gwen in which he told her everything and she told him. They trusted each other with everything; there wasn't anything he didn't feel he could tell her. But it went to a whole new level with Morgana, somehow.

She'd told him all about her encounter with her ex-boyfriend a few nights ago when they had met for coffee one evening when they were both free of other commitments. Morgana had started submitting Arthur's details into the competitions for the next year; gathering the information that they would need for travel.

She had been open with him. Told him exactly why it had upset her.

That's what it came down to with her. He knew he could trust her implicitly.

Morgana hadn't been looking for reassurance or a helping had. She'd wanted to get the story off of her chest. She looked more relaxed near instantly afterwards. Once the topic was done Merlin knew her well enough to know that she wouldn't want him to dwell on it. She'd said her piece, that was the page read and turned to the next.

"What are we going to do about them?" Morgana asked him with a spark returning to her eyes. One that he missed whenever she was upset.

"i_Is/i _there anything we can do?" Merlin asked shrugging his shoulders and looking over his coffee at her, "They seem like a bit of a hopelessly doomed case to me," he reached over the table top and took a gentle hold of her hand.

"We need to do something. Even if it's just to open Arthur's eyes a bit. He's a bit of a dimwit sometimes."

"Gwen's birthday is coming up. We could try then?"

"What's she doing?"

"What we do most birthdays."

"Try and take over the world?"

"That," Merlin cracked a smile, "That right there is why I love you," he pulled her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. Morgana smiled genuinely at him.

X

Somehow Gwen had managed to engross herself so much in making sure the god awful script didn't come across as completely amateur with the younger kids performing that she did little else other than rehearsals and research and doing extra bits and pieces towards the final shows than she had the year before.

The play itself wasn't as bad as she had thought but it wasn't the most inspiring thing she had worked with before. She'd hit herself in the head with it enough ties over the last few weeks to know it really it wasn't that bad.

"Gweeeeen," somebody was calling. She was alone at home trying to sleep, why was somebody trying to wake her up, "GWEN!" the same person shouted in Gwen's ear making her jump a foot in the air out of her seat not her bed, "Here."

Ellis handed her a cup of black coffee which she accepted, "I was dreaming I was at home having a bubble bath. I thought I'd fallen asleep in there. I had half a mind to tell you to 'fuck off'."

"To which you have every right. But lunch is over and you've got a tutor group to tend to," Gwen groaned. Of all the other things recently and she had stupidly said she would take over from one of the English teacher's tutor groups whilst the lady went on maternity leave.

"Great. You know those kids hate me right?"

"I doubt it. None of the kids here hate you."

"These ones do. I have no idea what to do with them so I just let the do whatever."

"And that is why I'm sure they love you. Anyway, I thought you said that Simon kid was in there?"

"Yeah, he is. He's the only one in there that doesn't eye me like he wants to eat me."

"That kid admires you, I'm sure he'll turn the rest back to like you soon enough."

"Hopefully. Though the sooner whatever her name is comes back the better. I'm not cut out for this."

"Get an early night tonight, Gwen."

She would if she didn't already know that Merlin was planning on coming over, "It's my birthday today, did you know that?"

Ellis shook his head, "Happy birthday."

"Thanks, but all I want to do is sleep. No chance of that."

"It's Thursday night, I'm sure your friends would understand."

"Merlin has this rule; you can only celebrate your birthday on your birthday otherwise it's cheating."

"That friend of yours is a little bizarre isn't he, Gwen?" Gwen nodded and smiled. He really was but she loved him for it, "Go on go. Otherwise you'll be late."

Gwen groaned to herself and picked up the mug of coffee from the desk and took it with her without another word.

X

Twenty-five had never been a birthday that had stood out to Gwen. It was an age she was to become and carry on. She didn't care much for ages. She was still the sae school year as Merlin. She'd just be turning thirty in five years now instead of six. Not that it made that much of a difference to anyone.

She was shattered and she didn't mind if she celebrated the rest of her birthday with her head on her pillow and unconscious to the outside world. Or in that bath she had dreamt about earlier in the day.

Last year she had celebrated with Merlin. They'd gone to the cinema and Pizza Express, eaten too many sweets and frozen on the way home because they had decided that walking was a good idea on the winter night. A really clever idea.

This year she wasn't expecting to be much different. She hadn't even made a plan with Merlin; she was in her joggers and a loose t-shirt. It wasn't like she'd need to make an effort for him. She'd assume he'd come over with a pile of DVDs and have a half pepperoni half Hawaiian pizza on order with Dominoes to come at nine with a share size diet coke and a portion of chicken strippers and free Garlic bread.

Not that he was predictable at all…

When the knock on her front door came at seven o'clock she couldn't help but feel like Merlin was early. He usually came at eight o'clock so they could watch two movies, eat pizza and he'd be home for midnight so he could get enough sleep before he had to work with his particle science in the morning without falling asleep.

Gwen had never found his work that interesting; but he was rather adorable when he started going off on one about it. It made him happy so she couldn't really complain about it. She enjoyed his rambles as much as she enjoyed his company. They defined him. Besides, his eyes glazed over when she started on about the work of Stanislavski or how Brecht transformed Kafka into something workable.

The second thing Gwen hadn't been expecting was for Merlin to be carrying two pizzas. What happened to ordering in, and why did he have two? He also had three sides' boxes and two large bottles of diet coke that he must have bought from the supermarket.

"Merlin?" she looked at the load in his hands and held open the door for him. Had she tried to take something she would have unbalanced him.

"Are they here yet?" he asked as he manoeuvred over to the dining table and slowly put down his load in an order that must have been opposite to the way he had picked it up. It balanced out and he didn't drop anything.

"Are who here yet?"

"Morgana and Arthur."

Gwen's eyes widened, "Why are they coming over?"

"It's your birthday, the big two-five!"

"It's not that big a thing, Merlin."

"Well, they're our friends," he shrugged, not seeing anything wrong with what he had done, "so I thought I'd invite them over."

"This is nothing to do with your inane idea that Arthur likes me and I like Arthur, is it?"

"Not at all," he grinned at her.

"Merlin!"

"It's not, honest," he said raising his hands, "It's your birthday. I wanted us to enjoy it," he slowly reached into his bag and pulled out a copy of Moulin Rouge, "See. Tradition," Gwen visibly relaxed. Now she looked less likely to kill him if he said something she deemed out of line Merlin took his chance to comment, "And if Arthur knows all the words there's an extra point for him!"

Gwen grabbed out for the first thing she could; she pulled a grape from the bunch and launched it at Merlin hitting him square in the chest; "You wound me, Gwen."

Her doorbell rang out again, twice in quick succession; Arthur's trademark ring, "Behave," she warned as she walked back towards the door. She suddenly clocked that she was still wearing her 'it's only Merlin' outfit. She squeaked, "You open that."

She dived into her bedroom already half pulling off her shirt before she shut the door with her foot. Merlin laughed. He couldn't help it. He shook his head and walked towards the door with a sly smile on his face. Perfect. His and Morgana's plan was going to work perfectly, he could feel it.

"Welcome. Birthday girl is getting dressed."

"You mean she wasn't before?" Arthur commented with a raised eyebrow. It wasn't a visual he was completely adverse to. This was Gwen though; she was always ready for things an hour in advanced. Why was she still getting ready now? He shrugged it off as he did the same to his winter coat and hung the rain soaked garment on the hook by the door. Morgana did the same.

"How're you, Merlin?" she asked him politely.

"I'm good."

"We brought cake!" she declared happily presenting him with a box, "We didn't bake it. Honest," Merlin looked at the box, clearly one from their local supermarket and smiled. He'd been there whilst Morgana had test ran her baking skills and spectacularly failed five times in a row to make a simple Victoria Sponge.

"We even bought candles," Arthur supplied waving the bag he had in his hand in front of Merlin who helpfully took them from him and over to the table where Morgana had now placed the cake.

The door of Gwen's bedroom opened, revealing the birthday girl, now dressed in a pair of decent skinny jeans and thick knit cardigan. She had her knit-upper Uggs on her feet acting as a pair of slippers – doing a slightly more respectable job than her Shaun The Sheep ones that were currently stuffed under her bed.

"Hi," she greeted walking straight passed her guests and over to the dining table to swipe the Moulin Rouge case and headed over to the DVD player to put it in.

"Help yourselves," Merlin declared opening the pizzas and sides. He too the first slice of pepperoni and swiped a slice of Hawaiian for Gwen; "here."

"Thanking you," she took a large bite out of it and sighed in contentment, "Pizza and Ewan, what more does a girl need on her birthday?" Merlin collapsed into the armchair to Gwen's puzzlement. They would usually cuddle whilst they watched Moulin Rouge, tissues at the ready. Now he was forfeiting that for an armchair he said was uncomfortable and 'haunted'.

Morgana slumped into the other armchair and grinned at Merlin. It didn't go unnoticed by the birthday girl but she settled back into the pillows she'd abandoned on the sofa and watched as the film started on her old television.

"Budge up," she looked up to see Arthur stood with a plate and a couple of slice of pizza on it and the box of chicken strippers in his other hand. She curled into the arm of the sofa leaving him more than two thirds of it to sit in. He abandoned the box of chicken between them and started on his pizza.

X

"The hiiiillssss are aliiveeeeee with the sound of muuuuuusiccc!" both Gwen and Merlin sang at the top of their lungs before bursting out into a fit of laughter. Arthur too laughed and Morgana had a mouthful of food but was smiling along with them when her mouthful allowed her to do so.

Arthur reached over to grab the last chicken stripper from the box at the same time that a giggling Gwen had. His fingers brushed hers causing him to jerk back his hand, "Sorry."

"No, go ahead, have it."

"I've eaten loads of them already. Beside, it's your birthday," Gwen smiled and picked it up from the box. She popped half of it into her mouth and bit down on it leaving half of it and offered the leftovers to Arthur. He smiled and accepted it, throwing it into his mouth in one go, barely even chewing it before he swallowed.

"Love is like Oxygen," Merlin quoted, eyes firmly fixed on his friend, smirk teasing at the corner of his mouth, "Love is a many-splendored thing! Love lifts us up where we belong."

"All you need is love," the four of them said in unison. They looked at each other and laughed, "Freedom! Beauty! Truth and Loooove!" Merlin shot Gwen a look over the piece of pizza he had in his hands. She knew exactly what that look was saying to her.

The Diamond Dogs of the Moulin Rouge started their dance; the ruffling of their skirts and their sexy number with the men visiting. Gwen couldn't help but bob along.

X

The film passed relatively quickly. It quickly became apparent that the film had been one that Morgana had forced Arthur to watch at least once a year since it came out and he hadn't objected much of late to it. He found himself enjoying it. Especially since he could join in with the singing along and messing around now.

Once Christian started singing not so secretly to Satine the four of them were all belting out the lyrics. For fun Morgana and Merlin had stood up, acting things out for extra giggles; "Storm clouds may gather and stars may collide," the girls sang at the top of their voices.

"But I love you," the boys took over, Merlin looking over-the-top in love with Morgana for comedic effect and Arthur slipping a glance to Gwen, watching as she happily watched her best friend make a fool of himself for her benefit.

"I love you," they sang back, this time Gwen looked over at Arthur, smile on her face. He didn't know if she was merely in the sing of it, or it meant anything more to her. She was too happy to bring her down with such trivial things now.

They were approaching the big notes; the ones they were really going to go to town with. Merlin and Morgana had taken each others hands. Their big declaration of 'love' was coming and they were ready for it.

Then they were plunged into darkness. Every electric object in the house wound down with the depressing 'I'm off now' noise at once. The performers both complained. "Not fair!"

"I'll find a torch," Merlin declared heading over to the kitchen.

"Don't bother," Gwen said, "Don't have a torch."

"Why on earth not?"

"Never needed one before," she shrugged; not that she could be seen.

"Fine. I'll go see if it's just us or an actual thing," Merlin said fumbling his way over to the door, his eyes still not used to the darkness.

"I'll go with you," Morgana said sprightly following the sound of his footsteps towards the flat door. Had Gwen been able to see she would have noticed Merlin grab Morgana's hand and guide her past the table to the door without hitting anything. Then she would have thrown something at him for being a pain in the arse. Was he ever going to define this thing?

"And then there was two," Arthur said relaxing back into the sofa. He pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Yeah."

Arthur had an idea. He pushed himself up from the sofa and, after managing to walk into the arm of the sofa and the empty pizza box Merlin had discarded earlier, he found his way over to the table and grabbed the box of matches and the bag with the birthday cake candles in it. He was careful on his way back not to walk into anything and sat on the edge of the sofa once he got back there.

"Here," he fumbled in the carrier bag and pulled the box of small candles out and gave her the first one he pulled out of the box. He grabbed another for himself. He abandoned the bag on the floor and grabbed the matches from where he had balanced them on his knee. He carefully got a match out of the box and blindly ran his fingers over it to get it the right way around. It took him two attempted to strike the match so it sparked to life.

He carefully held the match up to the candle that he presented Gwen with and lit it and repeated the action with the one he had in his left hand, "Hello," he grinned, now able to make her out in the flicking light the small candles were casting. They wouldn't last long before they threatened to burn their fingers but then hopefully neither would the power shortage.

Gwen's grin was big enough to rival the Cheshire Cat as she looked at the small candles in their hands and realised just how ridiculous they must have looked. That or they looked like giants...

"Well, happy birthday from the power board."

"Thanks," she laughed, "Just when we were being given a good show."

"We were giving better than we got," Arthur said with a smirk on his face. It was an obvious lie but Gwen smiled in return all the same.

"I think we all killed it. Just a lot…"

Arthur laughed and looked at the small candle in his hand. It was melting quicker than he had anticipated, the wax melting and dribbling slowly down the sides nearly burning the tips of his fingers but luckily cooling and setting before it reached them for now.

Gwen was relaxed back against the cushions of her sofa with the arms of her cardigan rolled up to just below her elbows. She was watching the candle intently as the wick burned. With a sigh Arthur too shrank back into the sofa, he rested his temple on the top of the cushion looking down at the woman who seven months ago had knocked him over in the road and threatened his sporting career. Back then he had never contemplated that he'd been sat with her on her birthday wishing that she would just look at him.

She did. In exactly the moment he deemed it so she did it. With that small smile tugging at her lips that she got when she was truly happy. She rested her head next to his and took a deep breath, sighed contently and closed her eyes.

"That was a big sigh," he commented with his voice no more than a whisper, "Everything alright?"

"Yeah," she gave a small nod but didn't open her eyes.

X

Merlin led Morgana to the hallway window and looked out into the dark street. It was deserted. All the streetlights were without power as well as the rest of the buildings in the street that they would see.

"This could be going better than planned," Morgana complained.

"Maybe it is. Maybe they're having rampant sex on the sofa now we've gone."

"Thanks for that mental image, Merlin. That was something I wanted in my head."

"Sorry," he leant against the window sill and reached out with his hand to tuck her hair behind her ear, "Why do we concentrate on them so much?" he asked her fiddling with the strands of hair he had between his fingers.

"Because it's easier."

"Avoidance trumps happiness?"

"Something like that. Projecting onto others what we wish upon ourselves?"

"They do say 'treat other how you wish to be treated'," he said wistfully.

"So we force them on each other because we want them to force us on each other?" Morgana asked jokily. She laughed, mirrored by Merlin near instantly, "We're not good at this, are we?"

"And yet we pretend we are."

"Maybe we just need to stop pretending," she said leaning into his hand. She pressed a kiss to the palm of his hand and looked up at him through half open eyes, "My name's Morgana Pendragon and I'm crap at romance."

"Nice to meet you Morgana. My name is Merlin Emrys and I'm hopelessly in love with you," she pushed up the distance between them and kissed him lightly on the lips. She pulled away from him again to gage his reaction. He gently chewed his lip and broke into a smile. Morgana rested her head against his shoulder and sighed.

"It wasn't that hard was it," she chuckled into his shoulder.

"No. It wasn't."

X

If Gwen wasn't careful she'd fall asleep with a full belly and a cheerful state of mind which would undoubtedly lead to good dreams involving none other than those present in the room at current. She had the candle Arthur had given her in her hand; she could feel the heat of its small flame against the tops of her fingers.

Arthur kept an eye on his candle; it was reaching his fingers so he blew on it gently. The corner of Gwen's mouth curled up at the feeling of a cold breeze on her face, "Careful," he mumbled gently taking the small candle from her fingers and blowing that one out too.

"Now how will we see?" she asked opening her eyes, it took her a moment to focus on him but once she did she could focus on his features in the moonlight that streamed through the window. The street light was out, it must have been the whole street, if not more, that suffered, "Hello."

"Hi," he smiled. He leant against the back cushions with his arm propped on the top of them, his eyes still on her. She fidgeted and mirrored his position; her elbow brushing his as she did. She let her arm extend just slightly so her fingers gently traced his. Arthur took the contact as permission to intertwine his fingers with hers. Arthur had never particularly felt nervous before but he imagined that this was what it felt like.

Instinctively his gaze flickered between her eyes and her lips, back and forth several times before he settled on eye contact. Subconsciously the pair of them both wetted their lips and slowly leant forwards towards each other. Arthur tilted his head to the side, into the pillows of the sofa and Gwen the other way.

Slowly her eyes drifted closed; Arthur's following suit.

There was a loud beep as the fridge powered back up – Gwen hadn't even thought about the gradually defrosting food in her freezer in all of the kafuffle. The noise in itself scared them into jumping out of their skins and away from each other but now the lights were back on the pair of them skirted back away from the other. Arthur cleared his throat and Gwen found a spot on her Uggs that she could look at and keep staring at, fiddling with her own fingers with her hands in her lap.

The front door opened again not long after. Merlin and Morgana entered both looking pleased. They clapped eyes on the pair sat on the sofa and scowled. They were sat like two awkward teenagers who didn't know what to make of each other. Surely that couldn't be it? Morgana was convinced her half-brother had a thing. A big thing. And Merlin had been adamant that Gwen had reciprocated the thing in a big way. Why wasn't there tongue contact?

Merlin inwardly groaned and closed the door behind him; "Powers back," he said lamely as he marched to the armchair he had been stationed in before their epic sing along.

"Thanks for the update," Gwen said not looking up fro her shoes and playing with a loose wool on her cardigan. Morgana looked between the you-should-be-(according-to-her-and-Merlin)-couple and glanced at Merlin. The fools had managed to cock up their – unintentionally aided – foolproof plan…

They were meant to be making out like their lives depended on it by now.

Maybe they were wrong. Maybe they weren't digging each other like they had expected.

X

They'd finished Moulin Rouge once Gwen had decided it was time one of them put the film back on. There were no more of their epic sing-alongs; nor did Merlin and Morgana get back up to dance. Once the film was over Gwen had gotten up again and changed the disc to one of the action films Merlin had brought with him.

No more getting stupidly close to the people she shouldn't.

Half way through the film Arthur had excused himself to the toilet. Gwen took the not-so-awkward opportunity to get up and go and put another round of popcorn in the microwave for their consumption. She leant against the kitchen counter, watching the film from there whilst the corn popped. She yawned to herself. It was a lot later now than she had planned to stay awake. Given the choice she'd be in bed fast asleep and she would have been hours ago.

X

Arthur stood looking at himself in the mirror. How did he let himself get like this? It was stupid. The lights coming back on wouldn't usually be something that would stop him from doing what he wanted before now…

This was far more nerve-wracking than any equestrian competition had been for him.

He ran the cold tap and held his hands in a well under it; it filled quickly. He leant over the sink and splashed his face with the water and rubbed his eyes. Somehow it felt like it would help him to see more clearly. It didn't of course, he didn't even feel remotely better after he had done it so he shut off the tap and grabbed the hand towel up fro it's circular hold and dabbed his face.

Arthur sighed.

He was Arthur Pendragon; Olympic gold medallist and serial competitor. He didn't get nervous.

So why did he feel like a whole harem of butterflies were battling their way out of his stomach at that exact moment? Arthur let out a long breath ad rubbed his hands over his face again. He couldn't go on like this. Morgana wouldn't let him and neither would his head.

He'd nearly kissed her.

The girl who'd nearly brought about the end of his life as he knew it yet none of that mattered because of the way the drama teacher's eyes lit up whenever she spoke about what she cared about. Or the way she smiled when he said something completely preposterous but not completely out there. She cared about his opinions and what he had to say even if most of the time she disagreed with him vehemently. He could have a heated debate with her without it ending up in an argument like it often did with Morgana or Gwaine.

It was decided.

Arthur couldn't just leave it like that.

X

Light streamed across the darkened – this time purposefully – room as Arthur returned from the bathroom until he clicked the light off and they were plunged into darkness again.

Instead of heading back to the couch, Arthur walked over to Gwen and leant against the kitchen counter next to her. He stood watching the TV just as 'intently' as she was. He allowed himself to slip down against the front of the kitchen cupboard so he was slightly more level to her; "We need to talk."

"About what?" she replied equally as quietly without so much as taking her eyes off the screen as Hugh Jackman rode through the forest on the back of a horse and carriage at high speed.

"You know what."

"Do I?" she said mock-obliviously.

She was infuriating, "Fine."

Arthur Pendragon had never given up so easily in his life.

He left her standing there just as the microwave finished its cycle and beeped three times loudly. Gwen waited a second for the last few piece to pop before she pulled open the door. Another piece of popcorn popped and she jumped slightly before she grabbed the hot bag from the small appliance.

Gwen separated the popcorn into four bowls; her temper had started to rise and she didn't want to be reaching into the bag at the same time as Arthur again. She gave a resigned sigh and headed back over to her friends somehow balancing the four bowls on her journey over. She deposited one each with Merlin and Morgana and placed both bowls left in the middle of the sofa so she didn't have to directly interact with Arthur.

She grabbed her bowl to her chest once she had settled into her seat again, eating the snack with so much vigour and speed she was certain to get hiccups.

X

As the film continued Gwen had abandoned her half full bowl of popcorn on the floor where her feet would have been had they not been tucked beneath her body as she curled into the arm of her sofa with her eyes closed, blissfully unaware that she had been sleeping for the last ten minutes and Arthur had indiscreetly been watching her since.

He cared little for vampires and werewolves and Frankenstein's monster. It was a fantasy world; which apparently he was staying in too. Only his fantasy didn't include monsters and death. Quite the opposite.

Gwen sighed in her sleep and shifted slightly, outstretching one of her legs. Her foot brushed Arthur's thigh. He moved awkwardly, pulling himself away from the contact. She didn't move again after that, much to his relief.

It wasn't long before the credits were rolling. Gwen was still sound asleep on the sofa and showed no signs of waking up. Merlin looked positively sleepy too, Morgana was the only one who had remained perfectly awake throughout the entire thing. It was something she had always done, even as a child, just to ensure that everybody was seen off okay or transported home without leaving a tonne of worried people behind.

Merlin stretched and sleepily looked over at his best friend's sleeping form and smiled over at her. He stood up and disappeared through the only other door in the flat. He reappeared seconds later with a pillow and a duvet that Morgana and Arthur assumed was from her bed.

"Aren't you going to move her?"

"And risk waking her up?" Merlin looked at Arthur as if he was crazy, "I might look macho and strong, but I'm really not."

"I can move her," Arthur offered but a hand on his shoulder told him most directly that it really wasn't a good idea and listening to Merlin was for the best; even if he didn't want to believe it for himself.

"One thing you should know about Guinevere Leodegrance. She likes to sleep. Secondly, she's very dramatic. Wake her up and she'll throw the biggest strop you've seen this side of the solar system. Trust me. She's very good at it. She's got that 'Best Teacher' mug for a reason."

"Right… it that case I think we'll head home then," Arthur suggested looking over at Morgana who nodded.

"You okay getting home, Merlin?" she asked him, concern etched on her face.

"Yeah. I'll be fine."

The pair of siblings left leaving Merlin on his own in his best friend's living room. He shook his head looking at Gwen as she slept, "What does it take with you? Have we got to hit your heads together or something?" he sighed, bent and kissed her on the forehead, "Happy birthday, Gwen."

X

In the dead of night one man led awake staring at the ceiling above his double bed. It was only occupied with one person. Thoughts kept running through his head about another that he wished into his bed. He could see her vividly. He could feel her there next to him.

In his dreams he could feel her lips on his as she bid him good night. He could feel the touch of her hands as she pulled his arms around her waist so he spooned her in his sleep. He could still see her face next to his on the cushions as they sat in the dark. He didn't know what it was about it. He loved her. He thought.

Maybe.

He was never sure these days. He kept his head so much in the game that he'd never had much more than the occasional three night stand. She meant more to him than that. That much he did know.

When the sun rose the next morning he couldn't tell if he had actually fallen asleep or whether he had spent the whole night with his eyes closed thinking about her. It hurt his head to figure it out. He was so tired but he could have sworn that he hadn't been there for seven hours when his alarm went off to wake him.

Arthur spent the whole of the next day lamenting about it.

He picked up his phone and checked it. Nothing.

Half an hour later and he checked it again. Nothing.

He knew he could phone her, text her, he could probably even turn up on her door step and demand she talk to him but he couldn't bring himself to do it. If she wanted to talk to him then she could make the move; he'd tried to speak to her and she had shot him down. Where was the use in trying again?

Arthur lived in a, usually happy, world where he got what he wanted. He worked at things in his life and he got what he wanted in the end. But this? He'd tried, he'd worked and he'd gotten nothing in return.

She wasn't interested. She'd made that clear.

He didn't see her for another two weeks when Morgana decided enough was enough and dragged him to the pub. Not their usual haunt with Gwaine and the other boys either but the pub where they did the quiz once in a while with Gwen and Merlin. It wasn't a Sunday night, but a Tuesday. The pub was empty apart from two figures in the corner.

There were Christmas decorations on the walls, hanging from the ceiling and in the centre of the tables. He'd forgotten about Christmas. He needed to get his two annual presents for Morgana and his father. He had nobody else to buy for.

Merlin perked up when he saw Morgana come through the door. Arthur knew it wasn't the only time he'd seen her the last few weeks. He'd seen Merlin in their house first thing in the morning and he didn't want to pay any more time thinking about that than he had to. He was all for his half-sister being happy but he didn't want to know the details.

Arthur sat down on the bench next to the table they were sat at. He didn't look at Gwen. He could feel one pair of eyes on him though. He could tell from the way the top of his head was burning as he looked at the floor that it was Morgana glaring at him.

He shifted in his seat; he didn't even have a pint to wallow in. His phone vibrated in his pocket.

center_Grow the fuck up. I don't know what_

_happened and I don't want to. Just grow_

_up./center_

He looked up at Morgana who appeared to be having an in-depth conversation with Gwen about the play. She'd agreed to go and see it when it was performed the next week. Arthur had agreed to go originally but now he wasn't so sure. He doubted she'd even want him there.

"I'll be back in a minute," he said standing up. He headed over to the toilets, walking passed the backdoor that went into the beer garden. He didn't even need to relieve himself he just wanted to get away from them. He stood by the sink for long enough to deem appropriate. He walked back out after thirty seconds and headed to the bar. He pulled his wallet fro his pocket and set a fiver on the bar and ordered his pint.

He looked over to his friends. He caught Gwen's eye and smiled slightly at her. She responded in kind. He only looked away when the barman tapped him on the shoulder to give him his change.

"Thanks," he took a sip from the top of it. He didn't move straight away. He looked up, she was immersed in conversation with Merlin and Morgana again. Arthur sighed. He didn't want to be the fourth cog in an already working machine.

He pushed off of the bar and headed back towards the toilets, this time heading out of the back door of the pub and into the cold. He pulled his jacket tighter around him and sat at one of the benches. He relaxed back and stared up to the sky. Gwen had been right; it _was_ easier to see at the yard.

Standing in the middle of the field with her just looking at the night sky had been good fun. It had been simple. There hadn't been expectations. There hadn't been any awkwardness when they'd sat beneath the blanket for an hour just talking to each other.

How he longed to be there now. He escaped his problems there regardless of what they were or who he was with. He always had lost himself when he'd gone to the stables as a kid. He entertained the idea of sneaking away their now. He could just call a taxi and be there within the next twenty minutes. The only thing stopping him was the fact that Morgana wouldn't let him hear the end of it.

She would be bad enough because he'd come outside to be alone.

Something he wasn't for long.

"I wondered where you went," a soft voice stated. She came and sat next to him, not looking him in the eye but up at the sky like he was.

"Just needed some space," he said.

"You've had a lot of that for two weeks," she said simply looking from the night sky to him. He didn't look at her though, he kept focused on the sky like his life depended on it.

"So have you," she watched as his words came out in small rasps of cloud. The heat of his breath against the cold of the winter air.

"I didn't think you'd want to talk to me."

He looked at her then, "Why on earth would you think that?"

"Because you didn't get in contact at all."

"Neither did you," they both laughed awkwardly. They were twenty-five years old. They shouldn't still be acting like this.

"What's going on with us?" Gwen asked.

"I don't know."

"We nearly-"

"I know."

"But we didn't."

"We might have."

"I know," there usual ease with each other had gone. Arthur felt awkward, he didn't know what to say anymore. He had to know, but it was a question of whether he just came out with it directly or asked her in a hypothetical nonsensical way.

"Did you want to?" He chose the former. He wasn't sure how he wanted her to answer. Hell, he wasn't sure if he wanted her to answer at all. He was in two minds about it. On one hand he wanted to know if he was wasting his time. On the other he was shit scared that she wouldn't give him the answer he wanted.

Gwen deflected, "Does that matter now?"

"I don't know; does it?" he damn near growled in response.

"We're obviously not comfortable about it."

"It i_is/i_ a little weird."

"Why?" She asked him. She knew why it was weird to her. She wasn't used to being the centre of any attention. She blended in. She went about her business and nobody paid her any attention and here he was painting her at the middle of his vision.

"Because there's a mountain of reasons why this is a bad idea."

"This?"

"Everything. Our friendship. Our," he trailed off. He was looking at her so intently that she couldn't have looked away from him even if she had wanted to. He was so close now, the merest of movements and she could have kissed him or him her.

"Our what?"

"Whatever this is because it sure isn't friendship," his voice was quiet. He wetted his lips and leant to her slightly. He didn't want to force her into anything but if she wanted it he would deny her of the kiss that nearly happened. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment before looking him; going slightly cross-eyed due to their close proximity.

"We shouldn't."

"Give me one good reason why not," he said with his mouth only an inch from hers.

"Because," she faltered, "because we don't want this," she pulled away from him and stood up from the bench. She had her back to him, with her eyes tightly closed.

"I can't speak for you, but I've wanted to-"

"Don't," she cut him off.

"Don't what?"

"Don't make this harder than it already is," Gwen moved towards the door of the pub. The chill in the air was biting at her bare skin. There was only so much she could take of him and the weather in one go.

"Why are i_you/i_ making this hard?"

"Because you don't like me, Arthur," she left him thee then pushing into the building with a force he hadn't seem fro her before.

"I think I can speak for myself," he watched her go, he couldn't bring himself to move, "Gwen," he shouted, "Guinevere!"

Arthur ran a frustrated hand over his face and sighed. Angrily he brought the back of his foot into the wood with such a force that he felt as if he could have bruised his heel, "Idiot," he said to himself under his breath, "Fucking idiot."


	5. Chapter 5

Christmas came and went. New Year passed.

Gwen had spent it alone in her home.

Merlin had travelled back home to spend the holiday season with his mother.

Both Morgana and Arthur had been roped into the events at the Pendragon mansion.

"You need to talk to her," Morgana told Arthur days before his birthday. There was only so much of the depressive bastard she could take. The last time she had seen him like this over anyone was back when they'd been at Kingswood.

Arthur didn't answer her; "She's beautiful. She's funny. She's intelligent. She can bring you down a peg or three." For which Morgana was truly grateful for. "I don't understand why the pair of you just won't talk to each other. What happened that's so traumatic that you're throwing away the best relationship you could have? She's i_so/i_ much better than the usual bimbos you bring home."

"Are you quite finished?" Arthur snapped. She was giving him a headache. It might have been reminiscent of his hangover from the night before. He hadn't drunk so much in quite a long time. Gwaine had been proud of him.

"No, actually, I'm not."

"Then please, let it all out," he said holding his head in his hand. It couldn't get much worse with her prattling, "I'm sure it's the more riveting argument you've ever had."

Looking at him now Morgana could see that it, whatever i_it/i_ was, was eating at him slowly from the inside out. He didn't need her lecturing him he already knew what she was going to tell him. All too well. She could see it in his eyes; "What happened?"

"She's not interested."

"Oh my god," now she wanted to hit him around the head with his own horse riding crop; leave a mark, "are you completely blind?"

"No. Her complete lack of interest in me isn't my imagination or me simply denying it, Morgana. She has near told me she's not looking here for anything," Morgana sighed at her brother's apparent lack of inspiration towards the cause. He obviously hadn't tried hard enough, "Can you please leave it?"

"No, Arthur. I can't, because I know that what you've just said is i_complete/i_ shit."

"And who told you that? i_Merlin/i_?"

"Yeah."

"No offence, Morgana, but your boyfriend speaks a lot of crap."

"Not this time. How can I put this in a really plain way that you'll understand?" She thought for a second rubbing her fingers over her chin, "She fucking digs you. Get the fuck out of your own arse and realise that."

Arthur looked positively defeated. Morgana had never seen him like it; he was usually so over-confident and boarding on annoying; "Doesn't mean a whole lot when she's not even willing to let me kiss her."

"So you tried?" She looked surprised and a little confused. She hadn't expected that. She just knew i_something/i_ had happened just the once.

"I didn't i_try/i_," he defended, "We i_both/i_ went in for it. i_Both/i_ times."

"Twice? Arthur, why didn't you tell me?"

"Because it's none of your business."

"Oh, Ar-thur," she reached out and squeezed his arm, "I'm sorry. You should have said; I'd have left you alone."

"I'm not a child, Morgana. I can deal with this myself," he pulled his arm from her grasp and left her sitting there.

Morgana growled and hit the side cushion of the sofa, "Great job of it you're doing so far."

X

It had snowed heavily overnight the day term was due to start. The school had closed its door. It was considered a danger to pupils and teachers alike to have it opened. Gwen wasn't complaining. It gave her another day to gorge on all the chocolate that Merlin had bought her for Christmas.

The snow bought panic. Merlin had been called that morning and told not to risk his health coming down the hill into work. He hadn't argued and had adorned his boots and walked the minute to Gwen's house in two having to take it slower.

He knocked on the front door twice and waited, his head curried in his scarf against the cold. He jumped on the spot until the door hinted at opening and he pushed in.

"Good morning to you too, Merlin," Gwen said dryly watching him run towards her kettle and fondle it with a great pleasure, "Can I do something for you?"

"Tea. Then I'll go into it."

"Right," Merlin clicked on the kettle and settled against the kitchen side. He contemplated jumping up and sitting on the counter, he only stopped himself because he knew Gwen would only pull him off anyway.

"What the fuck?" is how he decided to start.

"'What the fuck,' what?"

"What's going on with you?"

"Well, there's snow, and a lot of it, so I'm at home eating chocolate and considering watching A Knight's Tale in High Def?"

"That's not what I meant."

"Then elaborate?"

"You and Arthur."

"What about us?"

"i_Are/i_ you an 'us'?"

"Clear as mud, Merlin."

"Fucking hell, Gwen!" her eyebrows shot up into her hairline. Only rarely did Merlin swear so violently and rarer still did he shout at her, "You know i_exactly/i_ what I'm asking you!"

"We're nothing."

"Nothing? What happened to tingles and stargazing?"

"Out the window."

"Why?"

"Because it's not a good idea, that's why."

"Again I say; 'What the fuck, Gwen?'"

"Can we not?" she snapped. She wasn't in the mood for his prattling. Everything she wanted right now was her bed, a hot water bottle, tea and a box of celebrations that was preferably full of only Truffles and Maltesers.

"Not what? You've been in a bad mood for weeks. Did you even enjoy the Christmas season?" he said without thinking.

"Do I ever enjoy the Christmas season, Merlin?" she replied on the verge of tears. Merlin instantly knew he had crossed the fine line between being a caring friend and pushing her too far. Worse still, he knew that she hated Christmas and everything it brought for her, "I spent my Christmas season at the fucking cemetery, Merlin. I spent it clearing flowers and putting new ones in."

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah," she bit, "So I'm i_really/i_ not in the mood for this today, Merlin."

"Sorry. Maybe…" he faltered, he'd already pushed her over the edge but what could he do? His mother still lived in Wales with his Uncle and his father lived on an oil rig in the North Sea; he couldn't relate to her at times like this, "Maybe it'll do you some good to share this with him?"

"He doesn't need my problems."

"He'd understand. Better than I could. You've both got your share of problems and history."

"The orphan doesn't need sympathy, Merlin," she said as the first tear trailed down her cheek. For three-hundred-and-sixty days a year she managed to block on the memories, spending Christmas at her mother's bedside as she watched her die, "I just want to carry on. Once a year I go there. I don't need reminding of it the rest of the time."

"Okay, I'm sorry," Merlin pulled her into a hug and rested his chin atop her head, "Sorry."

She cried into his shoulder, sniffing and rubbing her nose with the back of her hand, "Forgiven," she nestled her head against his shoulder and took a deep shaky breath.

"He can help you more than I can. He knows what it's like."

"He never knew his mother. You don't miss what you never had."

"Maybe you do. Maybe it's time you cut loose from the past and let yourself be happy. You have to stop punishing yourself for things that weren't your fault."

"I watched her die and there was nothing I could do about it, Merlin. My father was broken, there wasn't anything I could do to help him. He'd never known love like that."

"Maybe now is i_your/i_ chance to feel it," Merlin said running his hand up her arm. Gwen pulled away from him and made her way to the sofa. She beckoned for him to follow – the kettle forgotten – and she started to tell him everything.

X

The party was in full swing when Arthur started to look for her. He hadn't seen her arrive but then the door had been on the latch and he had spent a long time circulating around his riding friends and friendly-rivals in the heated conservatory. There were so many people loitering in his house that he could barely remember the names of half of them.

Gwaine was in one corner next to Lance, the latter was talking to a girl who seemed to have latched onto him whilst the former seemed to be the one doing the latching…

Arthur blew out a breath through closed lips. He saw Morgana and Merlin standing over to one side with no Gwen in sight. She wasn't with Leon or Percy and he hadn't seen her hanging near the other two. She wasn't in the empty kitchen getting herself a drink and both bathrooms were unoccupied.

The rooms weren't full enough that he risked missing her as he searched around them. She wasn't there. It was official. She couldn't be fucked with him anymore. It was over before it had even begun.

He was destined to spend his twenty-sixth birthday alone with a lukewarm beer sat on his kitchen counter as people partied in the room next to him without him. And he didn't care. He was happy with that; as happy as he could be.

X

The lone figured pulled her scarf up around her ears and cuddled into her coat as the cold win took off around her. It attacked her freckled cheeks and her curly hair whipping it into her face; "What do I do, Daddy?" she said to the air surrounding her looking up at the sky as she stood in the middle of the darkened and deserted cemetery, "What do I do? What do I say?

"He's given me so much and he doesn't ask for anything. He listens to me and he takes all in. He took me stargazing, Daddy, just like you used to. We sat there there looking at the stars drawing pictures and laughing at the stupidity of it all. He reminded me so much of you then, Dad, he really did. He made me laugh which saved me from crying at the memory of you. I don't know what to tell him. I've never told anybody about what happened with you and with Mum. Nobody but Merlin. But he was the only person I had when you died.

"I've already lost so much. I don't know if I can handle losing anything else. Any word from you or Mum, anything you can give me I'd be grateful for," Gwen laughed at herself through her tears, "Now I'm asking the stars for advice. Nice one Gwen. Feeling a little like Simba," she wiped her tears away and looked down at the pair of matching headstones, "Why'd you leave me? Both of you? I need you now. I need you to tell me what to do. But you can't. God, I'm going to lose him too; I know it. The life I have now; it's nothing without him. Six months ago I would never have said that.

"I guess I have to sort this out on my own. I love you."

X

Arthur pulled open the tack room, it hadn't been locked and nor did anybody usually knock. He briefly wondered who it could be; Morgana would walk right in and he hadn't arranged to meet with any of the others. He frowned; there were no vans outside so it wasn't a delivery man. Through the window he saw a mop of black hair.

He pulled open the door, "Morgana's not here," he said wearily, unsure of why else Merlin might possibly be waiting outside the tack room and in the farmyard. He let the male pass him into the tack room without argument.

"I know," he didn't seem entirely serious but the look on his face confused Arthur, crossed between concern and amusement.

"Right, so you're here because?"

"I need to talk to you."

"Bit late for that Merlin. I do know you're digging on my sister. She does talk to me you know," he rubbed his eyes with his thumb and index finger, "Even though sometimes I wish she wouldn't."

"Not about that. I wouldn't talk to you about that. That's too weird."

"Right?"

"I want to talk about Gwen. I know you kissed."

"We didn't kiss."

"Nearly, whatever. Are you going to do something about it?"

"I tried. She didn't want to know."

"Yes she does."

"I i_tried/i_."

"Obviously not hard enough," it had been a good two months since Gwen's birthday. They'd gone out as a group plenty of times but the two of them avoided each other more. They didn't look at each other; they would stop talking if the other looked like they might start to contribute to the conversation. Gwen had started to talk to Gwaine and Lance more than ever and Merlin could see it vividly that Arthur didn't like it; "Gwen doesn't do this very often."

"Do what?"

"Men," Arthur raised a solo eyebrow at him. Merlin rolled his eyes at him, "Relationships," he clarified, "She gets nervous. She throws herself into her work. Away from people."

"Right?" Arthur's brow knitted, he knew why Merlin was telling him all this; he just didn't understand i_why/i. _This, if it was anything, wasn't any of his and Morgana's business. Arthur folded his arms across his chest. Was this Merlin's way of telling him to do something about it i_now/i_? If it was, he just needed to say so.

"What I'm saying is: you'll going to have to go to her. She likes you. She just needs to know you like her back before she does anything about it," Merlin picked up one of the photos off of the pin-board on the wall and smiled at it. It was of the four of them at the Rugby match all those months ago. Life was simple then, Merlin though for all of a second before he realised that, no, it wasn't. That was when things were on the right track, not simple, "Gwen's lost a lot in her life. She doesn't want to lose anyone else. So if you do talk to her don't mess her around. If you go into this, you're in it for keeps."

"What is this, the M&M Intervention brigade?"

Merlin laughed, "Pretty much. Talk to her."

Arthur considered Merlin for a moment, "I won't get any rest until I do something about it, will I?" Morgana had bugged him a few more times about it. He could have sworn than she had enlisted Gwaine on her quest too. Maybe Gwaine was doing it for his own good, if Arthur wasn't going in for it he could and not feel so bad about it knowing Arthur wasn't doing anything about it.

"Not in the slightest."

"Okay."

Arthur grabbed his keys and jacket from the workbench and headed out of the tack room, leaving Merlin standing in the middle of the room on his own. He clicked his tongue against the top of his mouth and swung his arms by his sides. He'd never been at the yard on his own before. He didn't know what to do with himself. He could go and say hello to the horses or he could go home.

He chose the former. They were always easier to talk to than Arthur anyway.

X

For years Guinevere Leodegrance hadn't had a soul to go girly shopping with. Her friends at university had either been male or not inclined to a good shop (if they were they were looking for the wrong sort of shops.)

She had agreed to shopping with Morgana when Merlin had begged her not to take him along. He wasn't a shopper and he never would be. It didn't bother Gwen, Morgana was good company and maybe she could get more information out of Morgana about her relationship with Merlin than he was giving her.

"Enough of me," Morgana said after an hour as she flicked through the sale rack in Republic, "What's going on with you?"

"January sales," Gwen deflected as she pulled a top from the rack and help it to her. Morgana shook her head and she replaced it, she was right, it wasn't that nice, "I don't know. Life's just eating at me. Work is busy and Christmas is never a good time for me."

"Merlin said," Gwen glared at her, intended for Merlin, and looked into the rack, "He didn't say why and I'm not going to ask because it is none of my business. When you choose to tell me then I'll listen. He just mentioned that you didn't like Christmas and it wasn't a subject you liked to talk about. But I'm here for you if you need me, Gwen. For anything. Even if you want to complain about my brother. Just no gory details."

"There are no details to tell."

"I know something happened."

"I thought you might. Merlin's been on my case."

"Arthur said you nearly kissed and that it wasn't i_entirely/i_ one-sided," Morgana probed stopping her search for fashion must-haves and looking at Gwen through sympathetic eyes.

"He'd be right."

"So what happened?"

"I'm not in the right place."

"Just so you know; he i_is/i_ in love with you."

"You don't know that."

"I'm his sister. He's tells me everything; I i_know/i_ that."

"I know it could work, but I just-"

"History, I know. Give it time," Morgana smiled reassuringly at her and reached into the rack, "Here, have this. Maybe you should go out in it one night this week and have good time. Perhaps on Wednesday with me and Merlin at that French place he likes?"

"Maybe I should," Gwen took the garment from her best friend's girlfriend and help it up to her, "Little short?"

"With legs like yours i_nothing/i_ is too short."

X

When Gwen got back to her flat with several bags of shopping in her hands that night she was greeted with a rose taped to her front door with a small note attached to it.

She looked at it and sceptically pulled the note from its place perched behind the stem.

center_Sorry I missed you._

_I always miss you._

_I'll see you soon._

_Won't watch the stars without you._

_xxx/center_

Gwen chewed on the side of her lip and unstuck the rose from her door. She lifted it to her face and smelt the petals. There were no thorns on the stem and each petal was perfect.

center_p.s. you can't fake perfection,_

_there is only what is and what isn't._

_You always leave me breathless./center_

She smelt the rose again, running her fingers over the petals. She chewed on her lip but slowly her face broke into a grin.

_X_

"Hi, Gwen, it's Morgana. I forgot you were teaching now, but me and Merlin have booked a table for tonight, we thought it would be nice to all go out for a meal together. Have some good wine and really make the most of it. Anyway, the table's at eight at the French place on Milsom Street. See you later," she hung up and smiled at the male sat next to her on her sofa.

"You are an evil, evil woman."

"I do try."

"Will it work?"

"Not if you don't phone Arthur."

"Why have I got to do it?"

"Just do it."

"Yes M'am."

Merlin fished his phone out of his pocket, hit a few buttons and held it to his ear. He sat for a few seconds before Morgana held a voice on the other end of the line, "Arthur? It's Merlin. Yeah, not bad. You? Yeah, cool. Me and Morgana have a table booked at Café Rouge on Milsom Street for eight. Yeah, for the four of us. See you there. Yeah. Yeah, she's coming," Merlin smirked at Morgana, "Yeah, see you later. Bye," he hung up, "Like taking candy from a baby."

X

Gwen stood waiting outside of the restaurant wrapped up tightly in her winter coat and scarf. Her hands were shoved deep into her pockets. Her hair splayed over her shoulders, keeping her ears warm. Her nose tinged red from the cold; skin cold to the touch. She looked down the street towards the main town and back up towards the main road. She caught a glimpse of a broad set figure walking towards her, the street lamps and Christmas lights reflecting off of his blonde hair. The figure waved at her. Gwen relaxed and waved back.

At least now she wouldn't be completely alone.

"Hey," he greeted from a few metres away, quickly taking the last few steps to her.

"Hi," she smiled back and looked up the street again, "Are Merlin and Morgana not with you?" she asked checking her watch. Arthur was already late. Gwen knew Merlin, he was an on time type (at least when he made plans, other times he just turned up).

"I thought they'd be here already. Said they were going out before hand and would meet us here," he shrugged, "I don't know about you," he said with a slight tug at the corner of his mouth as he looked her up and down, "But I'm bloody freezing. Shall we go get the table and they can join us when they get here?"

"I think that's a great idea."

Gwen followed him through the door to the restaurant; he held it for her, ever the gentlemen. She thanked him and headed towards the waiter that stood by the bar. He welcomed her with a smile and started up the usual drivel in an awful French accent.

"We've got a table booked."

"For deux?"

"Four, thanks," the waiter looked down at the page.

"What name?"

"Pendragon?" Gwen questioned looking up at Arthur who shrugged.

"I assume so."

"Ze only Pendragon I have is for two."

"Emrys?"

"None for Emrys."

"Right," Gwen chuckled, rolled her eyes and turned to look up at Arthur who looked nonplussed, "My mistake."

The waiter grabbed two menus and led them to a secluded table in the corner. He pulled out the chair for Gwen and pushed it back in for her as she sat, "Thank you," she said as he handed her the menu.

"Is this some sort of joke?" Arthur said looking down at the menu before discarding it on the table, "Did Merlin call you?"

"Morgana."

"I should have known."

"We might as well eat now we're here. They went through so much trouble after all," she said looking more than amused. Arthur returned her smile and picked the menu back up, "What shall we get to drink?"

"Bottle of white?"

"Sure," the waiter came back, almost as if he could sense their thoughts and took their drinks order. Shortly returning with a stand and ice bucket and two wine glasses along with the bottle of the most expensive bottle of white wine on the list, "Don't worry, I'll pay for it."

"No-"

"Yes. I know your views on paying lots of money for good wine."

"I pay money for good wine. I just don't have money to i_waste/i_ on good wine."

Arthur poured out half a glass for each of them and set the bottle into the ice bucket, "Is that so? Well tonight's my treat. Morgana would hang and quarter me if she knew I'd let you pay."

X

Two figures sat on small swing set in the middle of a park that they had come across on their way home. The blonde male had seen his companion's face light up when she had seen it. He'd taken a detour towards the park and she'd followed his lead without question. He held the gate of the small park for her and traced her footsteps as she walked over to the swings.

They swung high to the sky and back again for a long while; the early spring air whipping at their faces. The two of them smiled from ear to ear and gradually slowed their pace.

"When I was fourteen my Mum died. She got pneumonia and didn't make it over Christmas. I watched her die at home because she refused treatment. She didn't want a fake life full of tubes and didn't want heroic measures so they gave up. They said we could take her home so she was more comfortable but said she wouldn't make it to New Year and they were right.

"A couple of years later my Dad started having problems with his heart. He had one heart attack and was fine. We thought that was it then six months later he had another one and didn't come back out of hospital. They'd thought he would be okay but he had a secondary attack whilst he was in A+E. They came and told me he was dead and I didn't believe them. I ended up running off to find him and when I did he was pale and not breathing. He had tubes coming out everywhere from where they'd tried everything and it hadn't worked.

"I was on my own," Arthur had stopped swinging as he'd listened to her stories. She was still gently rocking back and forth and staring at the sky, "For a week I locked myself in my room. I didn't tell Merlin. I pretended it was all okay. I even left for the weekend like I was going home to see him.

"Merlin clocked something was wrong and came by. He found me sat in the middle of my Dad's floor crying. All he did was hug me for an hour and then I told him. The words 'he's dead' finally left my lips. It was finally time to face the music. My whole family had left me. I was on my own."

Arthur looked on in silence as tears built up in the corners of her eyes. He gently placed his hand on her knee and squeezed in reassurance; "You're never on your own."

"I had Merlin and that was it. He did so much for me. I loved him. He was the brother I never had. He took me home again and put me to bed with a hot water bottle and a box of tissues. He sat with me all night and just held me as I needed it. There are only so many times you can lose without breaking down."

"You don't need to explain yourself to me; I understand."

Gwen smiled meekly at him and brushed her tears away with the back of her hand, "You and Morgana," she started with a change of tone, "you act like there's nothing between you. You're blood and that's it. You'd do anything for her."

"I grew up believing she was my sister. And she is. I fell off a swing when I was nine and I broke my elbow and cut a massive gash on my forehead. Before she got Sophia to take me to the hospital she cleaned me up and made sure my head wasn't bleeding too badly. i_Then/i?_ she let Sophia take me to the hospital. She always looked out for me. The first time I fell off of CK she was the person who had me on the feet had brushed me off. That's the main reason she's the person who runs my life for me. She knows me inside out."

"I don't have that with anyone," Gwen said as she kicked the woodchip below her feet and stared at her shoes.

"Yes, Guinevere, you do."

She took a moment to contemplate over it but the answer was simple, "Merlin."

"Merlin," Arthur confirmed, "He knows you more than anyone ever could. He knows that to calm you down you need tea, a hot water bottle and the fifth act of Romeo and Juliet."

"How do i_you/i_ know that?"

"I listen."

"Thank you."

"What for?"

"Listening."

"You could talk all day about accountancy and I'd listen because it was you talking to me."

Gwen let out a small chuckled and kept his eye contact, "Thanks?"

"You bring out the best of me, apparently. So Morgana tells me."

"You weren't that bad before, I'm sure."

"You have too much faith in people."

"Sometimes that was all I had."

"Not anymore," Gwen allowed herself a grateful smile, one that he returned, "Let's go back."

"Oh, sure. I've got an early start tom-"

"No," he interrupted, "I mean with us."

"We've already started again once."

"This time it's more of a step back a few paces. Go back to stargazing and holding your hand," he reached out to the chain that Gwen was holding as she had been flying through the air and wrapped his fingers around hers. She dropped her hand from the cold metal and took his hand in hers, "There's more to life than complicated relationships; let's make it simple. We're two people who like each other a lot. We're two people with hopeless amounts of baggage. You're the girl who ran me over and stole my heart," it was his turn to blush and look at the floor, "Not many people can claim that."

"Not many people can try to, I imagine," with a chuckle Arthur shook his head and admitted that she was correct. Nobody else could claim it because nobody else had done it and wee unlikely to.

"So, how does that sound?"

"Like a good idea," he looked up at her again. There was no smile on his lips but a look in his eye as he studied her features in the darkness.

The pair of the stood simultaneously headed for the exit of the park without a word to the other and without letting go of the other's hand. It was only a five minute walk to Gwen's flat from the park and they walked the majority of it in silence until they reached the end of her road.

"How does one end a first date?"

"I don't know," she said with a pink tinge to her cheeks. It had been a while since she'd been on one.

"Confirmation of a second, perhaps."

"I'll call you."

"If I don't hear from you I'll take the message."

"i_I'll call you/i_," he stooped and kissed her gently on the cheek.

"Thanks for tonight," he said with his mouth still by her ear as he rasped the words at barely more than a whisper; "Thanks for trusting me."

"I always trusted you," she said as he lingered next to her. Her warm breath tickled his ear as she spoke and heated his cheek reminding him of the close proximity to her lips and he backed away.

"Don't be offended when I say I didn't trust you. You did hit me with your car."

"Yeah I did," she laughed, "Thank you for bringing that up," she said cheerily as they entered her building and climbed the stairs with speed.

"I'll see you soon, Guinevere," he let go out her hand letting her open the front door of her flat without having the jungle with her keeps in her left hand.

She gave a small wave as she turned to face him standing in her doorway, "Bye Arthur."

X

The fine May morning started like any other. The run rose over the South Gloucestershire countryside like it did every other. The grounds surrounding Badminton House were full with Marquees and cars ready for the weekend of events ahead and the custom it would bring.

Arthur Pendragon had woken that morning with a new sense of self. This was his competition. He was returning champion. He had a history of wins to continue. His last few competitions he had placed at, but all his efforts went into this one.

No other competition mattered to him more than this.

His father would be there for each of the days. He'd watch and he'd realise the years of teenage arguments he'd had with him had been worth it. He'd put his life on hold once again to train for the competition. Nobody truly understood his reasoning for it other than his sister. Gwen had happily taken a step back; she had been busy with rehearsals for the sixth formers summer exams and the school's summer play so she'd rarely had a free moment. They'd seen each other a few times but they were still sitting on the early stages of a relationship. They'd started with a new policy; one they both lived by, with their closest confidants, and wanted the same from each other.

Before they could commit themselves to anything long-term and completely- terrifyingly – life changing they'd wanted to clear the air and work through their baggage with both each other and everybody else.

It had been a long process but it was nearing its end.

Arthur had invited Gwen – and Merlin on default – along to the three day event that had been marked in red marker on his calendar since he'd bought it the last September. He wanted Gwen to finally see what it was that consumed every other thought he had.

"I'll be bad luck, I can feel it now."

"No, Guinevere, you'd bring me the best of luck," he'd said and had finally managed to convince her that it was no mistake. He wanted her there, win or lose.

The doorbell rang early the Friday morning of the first event. Arthur and Morgana had already been down to the site the day before for all of the more formal proceedings but today the competition really began. Gwen had been happily standing on the other side of the door with Merlin stood by her side looking a little worse for wear; 'Morgana,' was what Gwen said in way of explanation with a smirk on her face and a nudge of her elbow in Merlin's ribs. Arthur screwed his eyes shut against the mental image he didn't want and let them in. He directed them towards the kitchen where Morgana adorned an apron and a chef's hat.

"Today is the day I cook the Breakfast of Champions," she declared as she scrambled eggs. There was sausages and bacon under the grill, bread in the toaster and beans in another pan on the hob. Merlin approached her and gently kissed her on the cheek so not to get in the way of her Nigella act.

"Coincidentally it's also the only day she cooks."

"Can't be giving you this treat every day. You'll get fat."

"Perhaps you should feed it to Merlin everyday then." Merlin didn't disagree.

X

The four of them arrived not long after 9. It was already bustling with people. Gwen hadn't known much about horses or in fact how the competition worked but Arthur had tried his hardest to explain it to her vacant expression; "You're not going to remember any of this are you?"

"Not in the slightest," her features split into a grin. As much as she had tried to remember everything he had told her, and that she'd researched for herself, she really couldn't remember. And between that and teasing Merlin about Morgana – which would never get old – Gwen had overloaded her brain and given up trying.

Arthur laughed; "Copy Morgana."

"That I can manage."

"I'd better go get changed" he said checking his watch, "As much as I'd love to, they won't let of compete go jeans and t-shirt."

"See you in a bit then," he'd offered her one final smile and hugged her before parting.

"Don't get lost."

"Yes, sir," she saluted him loosely and turned back to find Morgana talking to an elder man as Merlin loitered by one of the shopping stalls and feigned interest in what looked like an oversized dog bed.

X

Arthur knew he looked most ridiculous in his Dressage jacket. It wasn't a particularly good look on anyone. But he never felt more of a tit than he did parading around go it. This year though he hadn't argued with Morgana just before she had ordered his jodhpurs so he's gotten black ones rather than the horrid beige attire Morgana had gone for previously. In black he looked like less of a gimp.

He zipped up his boots and brushed off his jacket one last time. He wasn't competing for an hour or so. He planned on sitting and watching with the others for a while then going and spending a little time before with CK. They would have their one sided pep talks just before Arthur led him out towards the entrance to the arena.

"You are completely incapable of dressing yourself aren't you?" Morgana chastised. She grabbed his collar and started to straighten it out. He was about to complain that re-tying his tie was a step too far but he was too late. She wound it about itself into a Windsor knot and pulled it back into place, she nearly strangled him in the process, "There. You are now more presentable."

"Apparently so," he chuckled adjusting his cuffs.

"Very dapper," Gwen commented looking him head to toe.

"I look like a tool, always do," he said honestly, "But thank you."

"Any time, Tool Boy," Gwen jabbed.

"If we hurry up we can check out some of the competition before you're up."

"Any hot names this year?" Arthur asked swiping the program guide from Morgana's hand. He scanned the competitor pages.

"Some new ones. Nobody completely surprising though."

"Good."

"Good chance?" Gwen asked not knowing the left from right of the horse riding world."

"Competition is pretty much as last year which means if everybody performs the same Arthur will win hands down."

"Being slightly out of practise and with them probably a lot more trained than I am, it makes it harder."

"Arthur is being modest-"

"Realistic-"

"He'll wipe the floor with them."

"No pressure then," Gwen said with a sympathetic smile.

"None at all," he said with a fraction of worry inset into his expression.

"You'll be fine," Gwen assured him gently batting his shaking hand slightly with her own, "Where's the cocky Arthur I know so well?"

"Back at the yard."

"You'll be i_fine/i_," she gave him an understated kiss on the cheek. Morgana and Merlin, she hadn't failed to notice, were busy making themselves scarce, "Good luck."

"Thanks. I'm going to need it," he disappeared towards the stables alone. He rounded the corner and spotted Sophie standing outside of Camelot King's stall stroking the horse affectionately on the nose, "Hey Sophie," he greeted reaching up to scratch behind CK's ear.

"Good luck today, Mr P."

"Thanks," he smiled down at her, "Can I have a minute," he nodded towards his horse.

Sophie grinned, "Sure. He tells me he is very excited," she said. She pecked the horse on the end of his nose and took off towards the arena to find a good seat.

"Come on then you," Arthur started, "Are we ready for this?"

X

The three of Arthur's main supporters were sat in the 'royal' box along with the families and close friends of the other competitors. Each of them had something to say about Arthur Gwen hadn't failed to notice. Some of them weren't particularly positive and she had to bite her tongue in order not to take a swipe out at them.

"Rider number thirty; Arthur Pendragon returns his year with his horse Camelot King," there was a loud cheer from the crowd. He had a lot of support from the people around the arena. Gwen couldn't help but beam.

"Dressage was always his weakest," Morgana explained to the pair of novices, "He's a jumper, he has the perfect seat but sometimes CK gets other ideas in the sand arena. A foot wrong there a pace change not subtle enough there. Hopefully he's not concentrated on the jumping too much."

"Right, okay."

"Don't worry too much about knowing what's going on. Just go with it. If it looks right, it probably is."

They watched on in anticipation. A few sharp intakes of breath behind them told them that the others felt threatened by the run he was giving. One woman tisked when Morgana pointed out that CK had put a foot out by taking off on the wrong foot into a trot before he should have. There wasn't much to be done about it.

Time seemed to drag before Arthur was leading his horse down the centre of the sand and finishing on the centre point and saluting the judges. The crowd clapped, more impressed by his run than a lot of others; "How did he do?"

"Quite well," a voice answered behind her. Gwen turned to see the older man Morgan ha been talking to earlier sitting there. She smiled at him politely but didn't say anything more to him, nor him to her.

"He's second," Morgana confirmed, "Which means it's far from game over."

X

Merlin and Morgana broke away from the other two later in the afternoon and took advantage of the quieter crowds that the Friday always possessed and headed for the shops. There were so many to get around and Morgana feared it might take a fair while; "You know I hate shopping don't you?"

"But with the promise of the food tent that's more of a mini mansion full of food and free samples I'm sure you can forgive me whilst I look for a new gilet and chaps."

"But why take me i_with/i_ you. You could have taken Gwen."

"She's busy. She has good luck to distribute."

"Something I didn't need to know, thanks Morgana."

She smiled at him and gently patted the front of his new shirt and pulled him towards her capturing his lips in a soft kiss before dragging him into one of the leather stalls to check out their supply of riding gear.

"It's all a bit kinky, isn't it?" Merlin asked flicking through a pot of riding crops as Morgana thumbed through a pile of paired chaps.

"If you're into that kind of thing, I guess," she shrugged as she triumphantly found her side and pulled the plastic wrapped leather from the jenga-style pile, "Success!" she checked the price tag and her smile grew, "Fabulous."

"Why do you need chaps, again? You don't even ride."

"Because at things like this you need to look the part."

"I don't."

"That, my darling, is because you are a hopeless case. I, however, shall be more publicly scrutinized if I don't remotely look like I know what I'm talking about. Joules shirts and chaps it is."

X

The Saturday started in much the same way for the competitors. They arrived before the crowds and readied themselves for the day of events. The only difference for one of them was the state in which he woke up. Fully clothed in a pair of jogging bottoms and loose polo shirt, Arthur Pendragon had woken up with a rogue curly hair in his face. He'd batted it away in his half-awake state and nearly freaked out before he realised that Gwen was perched asleep against him still holding onto the empty plastic bowl that their popcorn had been in the night before as they'd watched Black Beauty in his room without the prying eyes of Merlin and Morgana.

He had placed a soft kiss to her forehead and she'd woken from her slumber.

"Morning," she mumbled rubbing her eyes trying to unfuzz her vision, "What time is it?"

"About half-six," Gwen let out a short groan, "I know. I'm going to go shower and get dressed. We need to leave in an hour."

"Okay," she said with her eyes closed.

From then on he'd been in a good mood; throughout his shower as he'd thought of anything but sleeping in the same bed as Gwen to keep himself calm. He was worried enough about the tournament to need anything else to panic about as well and having guilty feelings whenever he looked at Gwen was something he could do without.

He showered in cold water.

When they reached the grounds that day it had been busier. There were younger kids running rings around their children and girls from the local Pony club on their horse riding around looking pretentious and self-important.

Saturday, Cross Country Day, was the crowd pleaser.

There was already a healthy crowd of people gathered by the water. If anywhere he'd have liked to set Gwen and Merlin up there, it would be more interesting for them but something in him told him that no, he wanted them watching his every move on the screen and knowing exactly what was happening with assistance from Morgana.

"You'll be great," Gwen had assured him and kissed him on the cheek as she had done the day before when he'd gone to get changed. It had worked for him the day before; it could potentially have the reverse affect without it.

"Don't screw up," Morgana said with a smile in her voice.

"Thanks, Morgana. Your confidence is charming."

"I didn't say you would. I just said i_don't/i_."

"I wasn't planning on it."

"I didn't plan on spending hundreds of your winnings yesterday, but it still happened… you have to win so we can actually afford to pay for them."

"We can afford it? Why are you spending my money?"

"I'm getting a cut; you just have to win it."

"Thanks. I'm going to get changed now. We're on early today so I'll see you later."

X

Gwen had noticed that the same older male was sat behind her once again in the Royal box in the arena. She'd not paid him much attention before now but something about the way his eyes were burning into the back of her head made her weary.

His attention wavered. He didn't seem to pay attention to anybody else other than Arthur. Should he be there for Arthur's support then surely Gwen would have been introduced to him before now.

Cross Country was something Gwen could actually understand. Jump the jumps; don't refuse; don't knock it. Arthur's run hadn't been flawless but his lack of penalties had taken him to the top of the leader board with complete ease.

The three of them found him surrounded by journalists once they'd ventured away from the arena clocking that he wasn't coming any time soon. The older man Gwen had keep seeing was brandishing at them making them disperse and had his arm clapped around Arthur's shoulders.

"Who's that?" Gwen said out of the side of her mouth to Morgana and Merlin' whoever could answer her.

"That's our father," Morgana said approaching the man with a smile on her face. Gwen's face fell. She hadn't been expecting that one. Then again, there weren't any pictures of the family in Arthur and Morgana's house. She had no idea what the man would look like.

"Time to meet the parent?" Merlin said with a smile on his face.

"You've already met! This isn't fair," Gwen protested as se was gently dragged towards the Pendragon family.

"You forget; you and Arthur aren't anything yet. To Uther you are just a friend. He gets the chance to like you first. You won't get the scrutiny I did. Besides, it's not like you have to be a man and protect Arthur from all the horrible things in the world. Apparently I don't look manly enough to protect Morgana from a sheep let alone a rogue knife-wielding attacker."

"Oh good, that was helpful. Just the sort of person I want to be," she said through her teeth as she smiled at the pair of Pendragon men.

"Dad, meet Guinevere."

"Lovely to meet you, Guinevere."

"Please, call me Gwen."

"My son does not…"

"No, but that is because he is a little strange in the head, sir," insulting his son probably wasn't the best place to start.

To her surprise he seemed to take it quite well. He laughed at her joke and even continued it himself; "Landed on his head one too many times as a baby," Uther laughed and held out his hand to her, "Nice to meet you, Gwen."

She took his hand and shook it as firmly as she could manage. She was no push over; "You too, sir."

"I've heard a lot about you. Starting with this weekend last year," Arthur cleared his throat purposefully and Uther looked to him, "Still. Nice to put a face to the name."

"Likewise. Well done, Arthur," Gwen said turning her attention to him over his father who now seemed more interested in Merlin than her. The elder Pendragon started to talk to Merlin about things that passed so far over Gwen's head she wouldn't have been able to reach them on her tiptoes in Spice-Girl-platforms.

"My lucky charm struck again," Arthur said with the cheesiest grin on his face.

"It would seem so," Gwen said with a red tinge on her cheeks and shifting her weight from her left to right foot. She tucked a lose curl behind her ear.

"Best keep it up, hadn't I?" he smiled bending his knees so that he could force Gwen to look at him.

"You had," the reporters came back to him then, like moths to a flame, and started probing him for a response. Gwen excused herself and gracefully escaped to talk to Morgana rather than be scooped into Arthur's world.

X

When Gwen woke the next morning she was alone. She distinctly remembered not falling asleep alone. She shut off the alarm that signalled half-six and got out of Arthur's bed. She pulled her socks back on, feet cold from the layer of chill in the room that had been created by the open door than led onto a small balcony.

"Morning," she greeted as she stepped out onto the balcony. She'd grabbed the first jumper she could find on her way out and pulled it over her head. She didn't get a response from Arthur. "You okay?" she tried again.

"Fine," he snipped and pushed back into the house.

Gwen looked after him and frowned.

X

"He can't afford to knock a single fence. If he does then the other guy has a better chance of winning," Morgana explained quickly. It certainly explained why Arthur was so snappy. He didn't like to lose; that was the one thing Gwen had learnt in the last year.

"And if he does?" Gwen didn't quite understand the logistics behind each and every round. She knew Arthur did stand a good chance of winning but like every championship running there were a number of other competitors that could still strip him of the title he so craved.

"Then we hope that the other guy falls."

"Right," Gwen nodded, slightly uncomfortable at the sudden change in atmosphere. They walked out to the car. Arthur was already in the driver's seat, Merlin behind him waiting for Gwen to join him.

"Or hits every single fence."

"So we go for a clean run for Arthur then?"

"Basically," neither of them wanted to wish an ill run on another contestant. They needed to show sportsman ship and it wasn't something that would come easily. But the crowds were behind Arthur the last two days; hopefully they would remain the same.

When the two girls climbed into the jeep it was tense. Arthur didn't say anything before he pulled away from the front of the house.

"Alright, Gwen?" Merlin said before Morgana shot him a look that told the both that they should be quiet. Arthur needed to be only with his thoughts.

X

"Come on then, CK," Arthur said into his horse's ear as he leant forwards as he took to the arena, "Time to do me proud," he trotted around the edge of the field once as the last competitor took the last fence with a good ease, "We can do this."

Arthur kicked on into a canter and aimed CK at the first jump. He did it smoothly as he always had in practise. i_'One down'/i_ Arthur thought to himself calmly rounding the corner to take the next three fences in a row with a great ease.

Fence after fence the pair took with confidence. The spectators watched on and clapped each jump, getting more excited with every jump that he did, "Good boy," he said as he leant forward into one of the jumps.

With five jumps left to the course CK had only clipped one of the fences but it hadn't fallen. The water jump had always been the horse's downfall but right now Arthur aimed him at it with a new found confidence; he could do this.

"Come on, boy, we can do it," he nudged his horse on and took the jump with a bit of added speed, leaving CK to clear the jump only touching his hoof to the water. Slight penalty but not enough to worry Arthur at all. He guided CK around the last jumps to the finish line with a beam of a smile on his face.

"Good lad," he rubbed his hand beneath CK's mane and kissed his neck as they slowed, "Good boy," Arthur looked up then to the box and saw Morgana, Merlin, Gwen and his father all stood applauding him with big smiles on their faces.

It was a good, clean, run.

A new confidence coursed through Arthur. He could win this.

He caught Gwen's gaze and grinned.

He jumped to the ground with a cheer when he got out of the arena and pulled his helmet from his head. He flung his arms around CK's neck and kissed his horse affectionately before he was taken down to the stables to cool down.

"Good run, Pendragon," his closest competitor said to him as he walked through towards the stands; "Really impressive."

"Thanks, Tom," he shook his outstretched hand quickly before he slipped up the steps towards the box and his friends.

X

Only a perfect run from Tom Billing would knock Arthur from the top spot. He was sat forwards in his seat. His foot was tapping repetitively on the floor of the stands. He kept rubbing his hand over his chin and over his mouth. Gwen was watching him more than she kept an eye on the action in the arena.

Tentatively, Gwen reached out and slipped her hand onto his knee. She gently squeezed his knee. He turned to smile at her but quickly looked back to the arena, an eager eye on the rider in the ring. So far so good for him, so far so not-so-good for Arthur. She'd never wished ill on any person before now, but she couldn't help but want him to knock something. Anything.

She suddenly felt a warmth on her hand and she gently moved her hand to intertwine her fingers with his.

At that moment Billing's horse caught one of the jumps with one of its back legs as it came down to land. Morgana celebrated as the fence came down. Billing continued to the next jump and the same happened.

Gwen squeezed his hand, she knew what it meant. His father clapped him on the shoulder. Arthur sat there speechless, the usually overly confident, boisterous Arthur completely gone.

"Congratulations," she said to him. A mix of pride and nerves coursed through her as they watched Billing finish his run. Arthur was staring at the scoreboard, his name didn't move. He slowly grinned as it dawned on him. He dropped her hand and pulled her into a tight hug. It was over as quickly as it began before he was pulled into another hug by Morgana.

X

The four guests Arthur had with him accumulated at the front of the crowd at the prize-giving.

Arthur jumped down from the podium and towards the four of them. He immediately reached to hug Gwen again. He pulled her from her feet and span in a quick circle. She wrapped her arms around his neck in case he lost grip so she didn't fall. "Kiss for the lady," one of the photographers started to say continuously once Arthur had put her feet firmly back on the ground.

"Congratulations Arthur," she said quietly once again into his ear as she hugged him on her toes. They didn't lose contact when he moved his head back to look at her.

"Kiss for the lady!"

_iIn front of all these people_?/i Gwen bit the inside of her lip, "Screw it," she murmured under her breath and kissed him firmly on the lips. She felt him smile against her lips before he gently kissed her back. She had her fingers around his lapels, holding him to her.

The flashes around them went crazy; the local papers taking a constant stream of pictures of their winner and the woman he appeared to be involved with.

They parted and rested their foreheads together.

Merlin and Morgana and clapping a mixture of Arthur's win and the kiss that had been a long time coming. The younger male kissed his girlfriend's temple and waited for them to finish celebrating.

Uther clapped his son on the shoulder, rousing him from his daydream; "Congratulations, son. Well deserved," the man looked to Gwen and nodded down at her. That was acceptance if ever Arthur saw it and he didn't waste time before he leant down to kiss her again.

"Thank you," he breathed into her ear as he wrapped his arms around her again to the pleasure of the photographers around them.

"Any time," she pressed a light kiss to the side of his neck.

The group of the escaped the hounding of the local papers quickly after that. They' all wanted to know what it felt like to return to the championships and claim his title for the fourth year in a row. Arthur had responded with an unprintable "Fucking Fantastic," before they had all taken off towards the riders quarters to find a bottle of champagne and celebrate.

X

The sixth form students started to drift it at eight-thirty as the last alert bell sounded. Tom walked in with a paper tucked under his arm. He approached the small table in the corner and laid the paper down. He ripped off the back page. He dug around in the draw and found a stray blob of blu tack.

When Gwen walked out of the office two minutes later she was greeted with a wolf whistle; "Good morning to you too," she said with a bemused grin on her face. She looked at each of her Sixth Form students in turn. They were smiling at her a mixture of smirks, pride and suggestive looks on their faces, "What?"

"Nice pull, Miss," Tom stepped forwards and grinned. Gwen squinted at him. He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder. Gwen's eyes followed it, leading to his decoration of the drama room wall with the article and picture about Arthur's win at the Trials that weekend, "The Chronicle loved you. Very photogenic."

They couldn't have used one of the pictures of Arthur and his trophy. They had chosen to go with the headline 'Pendragon Victors a New Man' to accompany a picture of the pair of them as she'd kissed him; "Oh sweet Jesus..."

"He's gorgeous," Amy said simply. The other girls in the class all agreed loudly, "Fit too, eh, Miss? Stamina of a horse…"

Tom laughed, "As I said: nice pull."

"Okay, okay," Gwen started raising her hand to quieten the hubbub of noise that had started, "enough of my private life. We have rehearsals to do."

"Gwen and Arthur sitting in a tree..."

"Thomas," she warned, pulling his artwork down fro the wall and crushing it in her hand.

"I'm rehearsing..."

Gwen watched her students with glee as they began to act out their modern rendition of a Greek Tragedy. Full of incest, gods and death it was perfect. Until the end when they went ad-lib and started to madly interpret the scene given to them in the press; "Oh Arthur, you hunk of a man, whisk me from my feet and take me now!" Amy said as Tom had embraced her for their big kiss in the piece.

"Oh Gwen. I love you," he declared and pulled Amy into his arms. He spun her around and dipped her. She squealed loudly as he did so, cut off by him kissing her very much in their own characters, "Meet me behind the stables," he said dramatically.

Gwen cleared her throat; "And on that note can we please go i_back/i_ to the actual script and finish this? It was perfect until this last bit."

"That last bit was the best bit," Tom defended as he walked back to his position to start the scene again, "Too much? Over the top, Miss?"

"Pretty accurate," she said with a suggestive grin.

The students all looked at her with gaping mouths and wide eyes.

X

Working at her desk in the drama office she wasn't expecting anyone to knock on the door. "You've got a visitor," Ellis announced nodding towards the door. Gwen looked up and smiled.

"Hi."

"What are you doing here?" she asked with a smile on her face. She moved out of the office and away from Ellis' prying ears. Arthur stooped quickly kissing her on the lips. She smiled against him before remembering she was stood in the middle of her classroom. She withdrew from him.

"I got some weird looks when I came in," he said in partial wonderment. He'd known where the drama department was from his days in the school a decade ago. It had barely changed at all which had made it slightly easier on him rather than having to ask around.

"Uh yeah," she reached into the bin and pulled out Tom's screwed up news paper. She uncrumpled it and flattened it against her stomach, "A few of them picked up on the papers..." she handed it to him, "Back page news. I feel so special."

"Ah," Arthur rubbed the back of his neck and flattened his hair down, "so would it be inappropriate to take you to lunch?" he asked looking up from the picture with an awkward smile. He'd never thought his personal life was the stuff of newspapers; but it had been a feed they could take up for the local story.

"I've only got fifteen more minutes of my lunch break left. But you're welcome to stay here for a bit. I've got a free lesson after registration. You can help me mark the year seven work," she joked.

"Sounds like fun."

"Liar."

"You're right," he smiled, "But I can entertain you whilst you work," she didn't think the school would like it particularly if she kept him with her, but what they didn't know wouldn't hurt her. She could always write it off as an educational plight. Just a long as they both behaved.

"The year thirteens will be in later rehearsing for their exam next week."

"I can disappear then if you want."

"They could do with an audience."

"In that case I'll happily stay."

"Be prepared for teasing."

"Like a group of kids could put me off."

"They've got a talent for it," Gwen checked her watch and double checked on the classroom clock. She had to check her pigeon hole in the staffroom before she headed to the English department to her tutor group, "I should get going to registration. I'll be back in 10 minutes. You'll be okay with Ellis?"

"I'm sure we'll be fine."

"He shouldn't bite. Though sometimes I fear he might."

"Duly noted," she quickly pecked him on the cheek, "What about dinner? Are you free for dinner?"

"I think I can manage that. I better go to registration."

"I'll see you in a bit then?"

"Yeah," she grabbed her papers, "I'll be back soon."

He grabbed her hand and tugged her back towards him. He kissed her chastely on the lips before he let her go; "Now you can leave."

X

The summer sun was low in the sky as Arthur pulled up outside of Gwen's building. The pair of them regarded each other for a moment before she took off her seatbelt; "Thanks for a lovely evening," she beamed as he shut the engine off.

"Thank you for the company," he shifted in his seat to face her. She smiled as she leant in to kiss him. He reciprocated in kind. He raised his hand to the nape of her neck. Gwen kissed him again feeling a rise of assertiveness as she ran her tongue over his lip. She felt his tongue against her own. His hand moved down her arm to her waist, gently caressing the muscles beneath her shirt.

Arthur rested his forehead against hers with a small smile on his face. She pecked him on the lips, "Would you like to come in?"

"I'd like that."

X

Two miles away in the pub on the outskirts of the city there sat one couple and four other men. Each of them jolly and happily drinking their beverages with glee. There was something missing for them though; "Where did you say he was?" Percy asked with a confused frown on his face.

"He's celebrating with Gwen," Merlin answered and grinned. Gwaine wolf-whistled and solemnly downed the rest of his pint. His last chance well and truly gone (even though he had known for a while now that he was never going to actually get the chance he liked to hope).

"I don't want to know," Lance said pushing his fingers into his ears for comic effect, "What they do in their spare time isn't something I wish to hear about."

"We don't get a choice," Merlin interjected.

"To the happy couple and the incredibly happy champion," Percy toasted, "May they be happy and sprightly forever."

"Or until Arthur's next competition when he'll drive her insane and she'll impale him with a fork," Morgana suggested raising her glass to Percy's.

"Or that!" Percy said and the group of them clashed their glasses together.

Leon, who had sat quietly in the corner finally spoke up, "You know," he started, "We should celebrate i_for/i_ him if he's going to be a boring sod and celebrate I_alone/i_. Champagne all around?"

"Make mine a pitcher," Morgana had said loudly, "Champagne gives me a headache."

X

Arthur reclined against the arm of the sofa with his feet propped up on the coffee table. Gwen nestled against his chest as they watched the late night comedy. Arthur's body shook as he laughed. Gwen smiled into his chest and cuddled into his side.

"You know, you never celebrated your win, not properly," she said, she splayed her fingers against his chest and rested her chin on her hand as she looked up at him.

"I did," he stated simply, "I spent my evening like this."

"Exactly; the same as a non-celebratory night," Gwen frowned. Surely he wanted to do something, i_anything/i_, to celebrate his victory for a fourth year in a row.

"Perhaps the celebration is continuing still," he moved to kiss her and smiled, "I don't need anything else," he ran his hand along the small of her back, catching her skin as the material of her shirt lifted.

"We could have done something more interesting, like go to the cinema or hang out with the guys or something."

"And have them fawn over my girlfriend? I'd rather have you to myself. What?" he noticed Gwen smiling at him dopily.

"'Girlfriend'," she smiled coyly, "i_Boyfriend/i_."

"'Sex god'," he corrected.

"I wouldn't know about that," Gwen said honestly; her imagination agreed with her. She thought him to be the tender lover who would make it as much about her and her pleasure as much as his own.

"Ask Gwaine," he smirked.

Gwen laughed heartily, "That really doesn't surprise me."

"I was joking."

"I wasn't."

"I know."

Gwen kissed him firmly on the lips. He pushed up from the sofa cushions gently nipping her lip, "I'm sure I could find out," Arthur raised an eyebrow at her with a teasing smile on his lips, "What?"

"Nothing," he kissed her, "I didn't mean for you to think that I meant-"

"No," Gwen buried her head into his shoulder and smiled, embarrassed, "I know. In _time_ I'll find out. I have no plans or rules as for when it shall be. Should be come about tonight or tomorrow or next Thursday or in three months; it'll happen for the right reasons and it'll be the right time."

Arthur silenced her with a kiss; "You don't need to explain yourself to me," he said with a positively gorgeous smile on his face. How she'd managed to resist him at all during the nights she'd spent in his bed she had no idea. She didn't know if now the barriers had been broken she'd be able to fight to keep any of them erected, "I _know_ I'm a sex god, I don't need you to tell me."

"Only Gwaine to," they both laughed. The notion really wasn't that disturbing to Gwen. They pair were very close. Even if the conclusion didn't come from first-hand experience it would come from accounts of personal experience and one-upping each other over the years, "But I'm serious; don't you want to do something to celebrate?"

"Like drink one of your god awful bottles of wine?" Arthur jibed with a wicked grin flashing across his face. He nuzzled into the top of her hair as she stared off into space.

"Yes, like that."

"Do you have any god awful bottles of wine for me to get you drunk on? Having you powerless to resist me-" she elbowed him in the side. He caught her hand and stretched it out so she was unable to attempt an injury again.

"No…"

He gave a hearty laugh and reclined further into the cushions; "Then there goes that plan…"


End file.
